Deuteronomy 11-13
1 “Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God, and always keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His judgments. 2 Know today, I do not speak with your children, who have not known and seen the chastening of the Lord your God, nor His greatness and mighty hand and outstretched arm— 3 the signs and wonders He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horse and chariots; how He made the water of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the Lord destroyed them to this day; 5 what He did for you in the desert until you came to this place; 6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up in the midst of Israel, along with their households, tents, and all the substance in their possession— 7 but your eyes saw all the great works the Lord did for you today.
Inherit the Land
8 “Therefore, you shall keep all His commandments I command you today, that you may live and increase and go in and inherit the land you are crossing the Jordan to inherit, 9 and may prolong your days in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers, to them and their seed after them, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 10 For the land you go to inherit is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and plains, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land the Lord your God looks upon; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.
13 “So if you earnestly obey all His commandments I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then He will give you rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, wine, and olive oil. 15 I will also send grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be filled. 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you transgress and serve other gods and worship them, 17 lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you and He shut up heaven, so there may be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land the Lord gave you.
18 “Therefore, you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be immovable before your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and walk by the way, when you lie down and rise up. 20 You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers, like days of heaven on earth. 22 For if you carefully keep all these commandments I command you today—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— 23 then the Lord will cast out all these nations from before your face, and you will inherit greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 24 Every place the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the desert and Antilebanon, and from the great Euphrates River, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. 25 No man shall be able to stand against your face; the Lord your God will put the dread and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, in the manner the Lord said to you.
26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but go astray from the way I command you today, to go after different gods you have not known. 29 Now it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to inherit, you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Indeed are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of Canaan, the area that lies to the west near Gilgal, beside the lofty oak? 31 For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you; and you will inherit it all your days and dwell in it. 32 Therefore, you shall be careful to do all the ordinances and judgments I set before you today.
The Place of Worship
1 “These are the ordinances and judgments you shall be careful to observe in the land the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to inherit, all the days you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places the nations you will inherit served their gods: on the high mountains, on the hills, and under the tree of the grove. 3 So you shall destroy their altars, break their pillars, cut down their groves, burn the carved images of their gods with fire, and destroy their name from that place. 4 You shall not do thus with the Lord your God. 5 But you shall seek the place the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name and to be called on there; and you shall go and seek Him there. 6 There you shall bring your whole burnt offerings, sacrifices, firstfruits, prayers, voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your oxen and sheep. 7 There you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you put your hand, you and your households, as the Lord your God blessed you.
8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9 for as yet, you have not come to the rest and the inheritance the Lord your God gives you. 10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, and you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all I command you today: your whole burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the first fruits of your hands, and all your gifts and all your choice gifts you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 Take heed to yourself, do not offer your whole burnt offerings in every place you see; 14 but in the place the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes; there you shall offer your whole burnt offerings, and there you shall do all I command you today.
15 “However, according to your every desire, you may slaughter and eat meat, according to the blessing the Lord your God gave you in each city; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat the tithe in your cities: of your grain, wine, or olive oil, of the firstborn of your oxen or sheep, of any of your offerings you vow, of your agreements, or of the firstfruits of your hands. 18 But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and daughter, your male and female servant, and the resident alien in your cities; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all to which you put your hand. 19 Take heed to yourself, do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 “Now if the Lord your God enlarges your borders, as He told you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you desire to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your soul desires. 21 But if the place the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your oxen and sheep the Lord gave you in the manner I commanded you, and may eat in your cities according to your soul’s desire. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life; the life will not be eaten with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your sons after you, if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God. 26 Only the holy things you have and your vowed offerings you shall take and go to the place the Lord your God chooses for His name to be called upon there. 27 You shall offer your whole burnt offerings; you shall offer the meat upon the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God; and you shall eat the meat. 28 Keep, obey, and do all these words I command you, that it may go well with you and your sons forever, if you do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.
Beware of Idolatry
29 “If the Lord your God destroys before your face the nations whose land you go to inherit, and you inherit them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you not seek to follow them after they are destroyed from before your face, and do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You shall not do thus with the Lord your God; for every abomination the Lord hates they have done with their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
1 “Every word I command you today, be careful to observe; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
2 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder today, 3 and the sign or the wonder he spoke to you comes to pass, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ you have not known, 4 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall hold fast to Him. 6 But that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken to lead you astray from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from bondage, to entice you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
7 “If your brother, the son of your father or mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve different gods’ you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 8 of the gods of the nations around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 9 you shall not consent to him nor listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 10 but you shall make a report about him; your hands shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. 11 So they shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 12 So all Israel will hear and fear, and not again continue to do according to the word of this evil among you.
13 “If you hear someone in one of your cities the Lord your God gives you to dwell in saying, 14 ‘Lawless men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve different gods” ’ you have not known, 15 then you shall inquire and search diligently. So if the report is indeed true and certain that this abomination was committed among you, 16 you shall surely strike all the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and everything therein. 17 You shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn the city and all its plunder with fire before the Lord your God. It shall be uninhabited forever; it shall never be built again. 18 Thus none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, so the Lord may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, and have compassion on you and multiply you in the manner the Lord swore to your fathers, 19 if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God to keep all His commandments I command you today, to do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.
Psalm 56
1 For the End; corrupt not; by David; for a pillar inscription, when he escaped from the face of Saul to the cave.
2 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will hope,
Until lawlessness shall pass away.
3 I will cry out to God most High;
My God who is my benefactor.
4 He sent from heaven and saved me;
He gave over to disgrace those who trample me down.
(Pause)
God sent out His mercy and His truth,
5 And delivered my soul from the midst of young lions.
Although troubled, I fell asleep;
As for the sons of men, their teeth are a weapon and arrows,
And their tongue is a sharp dagger.
6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth.
7 They prepared a trap for my feet,
And they bowed down my soul;
They dug a pit before my face,
But they fell into it.
(Pause)
8 My heart is ready, O God,
My heart is ready;
I will sing, and I will sing a psalm.
9 Awake, my glory;
Awake, harp and lyre;
I will arise at dawn.
10 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the Gentiles.
11 For Your mercy is magnified to the heavens,
And Your truth to the clouds.
12 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
And Your glory above all the earth.
Proverbs 11:26–30
26 He who plans good things seeks good grace,
But he who seeks evil, it will capture him.
27 He who trusts in riches, this man will fall,
But he who helps the righteous, this man will rise.
28 He who does not deal graciously with his own house will inherit the wind,
And a man without discernment will be servant to one with discernment.
29 A tree of life springs up from the fruit of righteousness,
But the souls of the lawless will be taken away before their time.
30 If the righteous man is scarcely saved,
Then where shall an ungodly man and a sinner appear?
Mark 9:2–29
2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.
3 His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
4 And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
5 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—
6 because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.
7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
8 Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.
9 Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
10 So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
11 And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
13 “But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”
A Boy Is Healed
14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.
15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.
16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”
17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.
18 “And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
22 “And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”
26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”