Deuteronomy 14-16
1 “You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not engage in purificatory rites, nor shave your head between your eyes for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord chose you to be a people for Himself, a special people above all the nations on the face of the earth.
Clean and Unclean Meat
3 “You shall not eat any abomination. 4 These are the cattle you may eat: the young bull of the oxen, the male lamb of the sheep, and the young male of the goats; 5 and you may also eat the deer, the gazelle, the antelope, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the gazelle, and the mountain sheep. 6 You may also eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud among the animals. 7 Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. 8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.
9 “These you may eat of all in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. 10 But whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you. 11 All clean birds you may eat. 12 But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; 14 every raven after its kind; 15 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the seagull, and the hawk after their kinds; 16 the heron, the swan, and the ibis; 17 the cormorant, the hawk, the hoopoe, and the owl; 18 the pelican, the plover after their kind, and the purple coot and the bat. 19 Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 You may eat all clean birds. 21 You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien in your cities that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk.
Tithing
22 “You shall tithe all the increase of your grain the field produces year by year. 23 You shall eat before the Lord your God in the place He chooses to have His name called upon there; you will bring in the tithe of your grain, wine, and olive oil, of the firstborn of your oxen and sheep, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God all your days. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hands, and go to the place the Lord your God chooses. 26 Then you shall spend that money for whatever your soul desires; for oxen or sheep, for wine or strong drink, for whatever your soul desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household, 27 and the Levite who is within your cities, for he has no part or inheritance with you.
28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce. 29 Then the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the resident alien and the fatherless and the widow who are within your cities may come and eat and be satisfied, so the Lord your God may bless you in all the works you do.
Debts Released after Seven Years
1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 So the order of the remission is as follows: every debt your neighbor owes you, you shall remit; you shall not demand it back from your brother, because a remission is proclaimed for the Lord your God. 3 You may demand it back from a foreigner, but you shall grant remission of your brother’s debt, 4 except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— 5 only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God blessed you in the manner He told you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
Care for the Poor
7 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren within any of the cities in your land the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; 8 but you shall surely open your hands to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. 9 Beware lest there be a hidden thought in your heart, a transgression of the law, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it be a great sin among you. 10 You shall surely give him and loan him as much as he needs, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in everything to which you put your hand. 11 For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore, I command you to do this word which says, ‘You shall surely open your hands to your brother, to your poor and needy in your land.’
Bondservants
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 But when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your sheep, wheat, and winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with you shall give to him. 15 For you shall remember you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from that place; therefore, I command you this thing. 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, because he is well off with you, 17 then you shall take a small awl and pierce his ear at the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has worked the yearly wage of a hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do.
Firstborn Animals
19 “All the firstborn males that come from your oxen and sheep you shall sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn young bull, nor shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20 You and your household shall eat it before the Lord year by year in the place the Lord your God chooses. 21 But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You may eat it within your cities; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
Pascha
1 “Observe the month of new corn, and keep Pascha to the Lord your God, for in the month of new corn He brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Therefore you shall sacrifice Pascha to the Lord your God from the sheep and oxen, in the place the Lord chooses for His name to be called upon there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your borders for seven days, nor shall any of the meat you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain until morning. 5 You may not sacrifice Pascha within any of your cities the Lord your God gives you; 6 but at the place the Lord your God chooses for His name to be called upon there, there you shall sacrifice Pascha at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 You shall roast and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your houses. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh and final day, there shall be a feast to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it except what must be done for life.
The Feast of Weeks
9 “You shall count seven complete weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God, and according to your ability you may offer whatever you wish, as the Lord your God blessed you. 11 You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and daughter, your male servant and female servant, the Levite who is within your cities, the resident alien and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses for His name to be called upon there. 12 And you shall remember you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these commandments.
The Feast of Tabernacles
13 “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and winepress. 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and daughter, your male servant and female servant, the Levite, the resident alien, the fatherless and the widow who are within your cities. 15 Seven days you shall keep a feast to the Lord your God in the place the Lord your God chooses for Himself, and if the Lord your God should bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, you will be rejoicing. 16 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses; at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord your God empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing the Lord your God gave you.
Appointing Judges
18 “You shall appoint judges and teachers in all the cities the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 They shall not pervert judgment; they shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. 20 You shall pursue what is altogether just, that you may live and go in and inherit the land the Lord your God gives you.
21 “You shall not plant for yourself any grove or any tree near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 22 You shall not set up a pillar the Lord your God hates.
Psalm 57
1 For the End; corrupt not; by David; for a pillar inscription.
2 If, then, you truly speak of righteousness,
Do you judge rightly, O you sons of men?
3 For in your heart you work lawlessness in the earth;
Your hands weave unrighteousness.
4 Sinners are alienated from the womb;
From birth they are led astray; they speak lies.
5 Their anger is according to the likeness of a serpent;
Like a deaf asp that stops its ears,
6 Which will not listen to the sound of charms,
Nor to an enchantment of a skillful charmer.
7 God shattered their teeth in their mouths;
The Lord broke the teeth of the lions.
8 They shall pass along like water running through;
He will bend His bow until they are weakened.
9 Like melting wax they will be destroyed;
Fire fell on them, and they never saw the sun.
10 Before your thorns are aware of its prickly shrub,
He will swallow you up, as if you were alive, as if in His anger.
11 A righteous man shall be glad when he sees the vengeance of the ungodly;
He shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
12 A man will say, “If indeed there is fruit for the righteous man,
Then it is God who judges them on the earth.”
Proverbs 12:1–5
1 He who loves instruction loves perception,
But he who hates correction is without discernment.
2 He who finds grace from the Lord becomes better,
But a lawless man will be passed over in silence.
3 A man will not prosper by lawlessness,
But the roots of righteous men will not be pulled out.
4 A courageous wife is a crown to her husband,
But as a worm in a tree, so an evildoing wife destroys her husband.
5 The thoughts of the righteous are judgments,
But the ungodly devise deceits.
Mark 9:30–50
30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.
31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”
32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
Who Is the Greatest?
33 Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?”
34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.
35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,
37 “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
Jesus Forbids Sectarianism
38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.
40 “For he who is not against us is on our side.
41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
43 “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—
44 “where
‘Their worm does not die,
And the fire is not quenched.’
45 “And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—
46 “where
‘Their worm does not die,
And the fire is not quenched.’
47 “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—
48 “where
‘Their worm does not die,
And the fire is not quenched.’
Tasteless Salt Is Worthless
49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
50 “Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”