The Greatest Commandment

1 “Now this is ^zthe commandment—the statutes and the rules¹—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that ^ayou may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and ^bthat your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, ^cas the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: ^dThe Lord our God, the Lord is one.² 5 You ^eshall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And ^fthese words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 ^gYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 ^hYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 ⁱYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^jthat you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 ^kthen take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is ^lthe Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^mby his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not ⁿgo after other gods, ^othe gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for ^pthe Lord your God in your midst ^qis a jealous God—^rlest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 ^s“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^tas you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall ^udiligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 ^vAnd you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 ^wby thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

20 ^x“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ^y‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And ^zthe Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^ato fear the Lord our God, ^bfor our good always, that ^che might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And ^dit will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

A Chosen People

1 “When the ^eLord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^fthe Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^gmore numerous and mightier than you, 2 ^hand when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ⁱdevote them to complete destruction.^{3 j}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 ^kYou shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^lThen the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^mquickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: ⁿyou shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ⁿpillars and chop down their ⁿAsherim and ^oburn their carved images with fire.

6 “For ^pyou are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^pa people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but ^qit is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^rthe oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^sthe faithful God ^twho keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and ^urepays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^vHe will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 ^wYou shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

12 ^x“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ^ythe covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will ^zlove you, bless you, and multiply you. ^aHe will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. ^bThere shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil ^cdiseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And ^dyou shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. ^eYour eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^fa snare to you.

17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 ^gyou shall not be afraid of them but you shall ^hremember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, ⁱthe signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, ^jthe Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^kin your midst, ^la great and awesome God. 22 ^mThe Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,⁴ lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 ⁿBut the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And ^ohe will give their kings into your hand, and you shall ^pmake their name perish from under heaven. ^qNo one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 The carved images of their gods ^ryou shall burn with fire. You ^sshall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ^tensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction⁵ like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ^ufor it is devoted to destruction.

Dedication to Theophilus

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that ^ahave been accomplished among us, 2 ^bjust as those who ^cfrom the beginning were ^deyewitnesses and ^eministers of ^fthe word ^ghave delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write ^han orderly account for you, ⁱmost excellent ^jTheophilus, 4 that you may have ^kcertainty concerning the things ^lyou have been taught.

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

5 ^mIn the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,^{1 n}of ^othe division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both ^prighteous before God, walking ^qblamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because ^rElizabeth was barren, and ^sboth were advanced in years.

8 Now ^twhile he was serving as priest before God when ^uhis division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot ^vto enter ^wthe temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people ^xwere praying ^youtside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of ^zthe altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and ^afear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for ^byour prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^cyou shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will ^drejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be ^egreat before the Lord. And ^fhe must not drink wine or strong ^gdrink, and ^ghe will be ^hfilled with the Holy Spirit, ⁱeven from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and ^jhe will go before him ^kin the spirit and power of Elijah, ^lto turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and ^mthe disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ⁿto make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, ^o“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am ^pGabriel. ^qI stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, ^ryou will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in ^sthe temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in ^sthe temple. And ^the kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And ^uwhen his time of ^vservice was ended, he went to his home.

24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, ^wto take away my reproach among people.”

Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month the angel ^xGabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named ^yNazareth, 27 ^zto a virgin betrothed² to a man whose name was Joseph, ^aof the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, ^bO favored one, ^cthe Lord is with you!”³ 29 But ^dshe was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for ^eyou have found favor with God. 31 And behold, ^fyou will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and ^gyou shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of ^hthe Most High. And the Lord God ⁱwill give to him the throne of ^jhis father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob ^kforever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”⁴

35 And the angel answered her, ^l“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of ^hthe Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born⁵ will be called ^mholy—ⁿthe Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her ^owho was called barren. 37 For ^pnothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant⁶ of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And ^qthe angel departed from her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into ^rthe hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth ^swas filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ^t“Blessed are you among women, and ^ublessed is ^vthe fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of ^wmy Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And ^xblessed is she who believed that there would be⁷ a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat

46 And Mary said,

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord ^shad shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And ^ton the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; ^uhe shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And ^vthey made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for ^wa writing tablet and wrote, ^u“His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 ^xAnd immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue ^yloosed, and he spoke, ^zblessing God. 65 And ^afear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all ^bthe hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them ^claid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For ^dthe hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah’s Prophecy

67 And his father Zechariah ^ewas filled with the Holy Spirit and ^fprophesied, saying,

80 ^jAnd the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was ^kin the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.