Deuteronomy 26:1-28:14; Psalm 61; Proverbs 12:21–25; Mark 11:20–33
Deuteronomy 26:1-28:14
1 “And it shall be, when you come into the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you inherit it and dwell in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the produce of your land which the Lord your God gives you and put it in a basket, and go to the place the Lord your God will choose for His name to be called upon there. 3 Then you shall go to the one who is priest in those days and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord my God, I have come to the country the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hands and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 So you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father left Syria, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 But the Egyptians maltreated us, humbled us, and laid hard tasks on us. 7 Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our humility, our labor and our affliction. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great spectacles and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”; 10 and now, behold, I brought the firstfruits of the produce of the land You, O Lord, gave me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship there before the Lord your God. 11 So you shall rejoice in every good thing the Lord your God gave you and your house, you and the Levite and the resident alien among you.
12 “Now if you should finish tithing all the tithe of the produce of your land in the third year, you shall give the second tithe to the Levite, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow; and they shall eat within your cities and be filled. 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I cleared out the holy things from my house and also gave them to the Levite, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments You commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of them when in mourning, nor have I cleared out any of them for an unclean use, nor given any of them for the dead. I obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and did according to all You commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You gave them, just as You swore to give our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
The People of God
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these ordinances and judgments; therefore, you shall be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 Today, you proclaimed God to be your God, and to walk in His ways, to keep His ordinances and judgments, and to obey His voice. 18 Also today, the Lord proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He said to you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 and to set you high over all the nations; how He made you a name, a pride, and glorious, that you might be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He said.”
Commandments Set in Stone
1 Now Moses with the elders of Israel ordered the people, saying, “Keep all these commandments I command you today. 2 Then it shall be, on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land the Lord your God gives you, you shall set up for yourselves large stones and plaster them with lime. 3 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law when you cross over the Jordan, at the time you enter the land the Lord God of your fathers is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ in the manner the Lord God of your fathers told you. 4 Therefore it shall be, when you cross over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones on Mount Ebal, which I command you today, and you shall plaster them with lime. 5 Now there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. 6 You shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer whole burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 You shall sacrifice peace offerings there, and shall eat and be filled and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 Then you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.”
9 Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel: This day you became the people of the Lord your God. 10 Therefore you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do all His commandments and ordinances I command you today.”
Curses on Disobedience
11 Then Moses commanded the people on that day, saying, 12 “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you cross over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; 13 and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
14 Then the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all Israel:
15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ Then all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’
16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
17 ‘Cursed is he who changes his neighbor’s boundaries.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
18 ‘Cursed is he who makes the blind wander on a road.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
19 ‘Cursed is he who perverts the judgment of a resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
20 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he uncovered what is covered of his father’s.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
21 ‘Cursed is he who lies with any cattle.’ Then 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.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
23 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed is he who lies with the sister of his wife.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
24 ‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor deceitfully.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
25 ‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to slay the innocent blood of a soul.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
26 ‘Cursed is every man who does not abide in all the words of this law to do them.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
The Blessings of Obedience
1 “Now it shall come to pass, as you cross the Jordan to the land the Lord your God gives you, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to be careful and do all His commandments I command you today, then the Lord your God will set you high over all nations of the earth. 2 Then all these blessings shall come upon you and find you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4 Blessed shall be the offspring of your womb, the produce of your ground and the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep. 5 Blessed shall be your storehouses and your reserves. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. 7 May the Lord your God deliver your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand in the land the Lord your God gives you.
9 “The Lord your God will establish you as a holy people to Himself, in the manner He swore to your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways. 10 Then all nations of the earth shall see you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 So the Lord your God shall increase you in good things: in the fruit of your womb, in the produce of your ground, and in the offspring of your cattle in the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heaven, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the works of your hands. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, and they shall not rule over you. 13 So the Lord your God will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God I command you today to keep and do them. 14 You shall not transgress any of the words I command you this day to the right or the left, to go after different gods to serve them.
Psalm 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 12:21–25
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 11:20–33
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.
Forgiveness and Prayer
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.”
Jesus’ Authority Questioned
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.”