Leviticus 19–20

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, tYou shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. uEvery one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and vyou shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. wDo not turn to idols xor make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

yWhen you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so zthat you may be accepted. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is atainted; it will not be accepted, and everyone who eats it shall bbear his iniquity, because che has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

dWhen you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

11 eYou shall not steal; fyou shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 gYou shall not swear by my name falsely, and so hprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

13 iYou shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. jThe wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 kYou shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall lfear your God: I am the Lord.

15 mYou shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 nYou shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ostand up against the life1 of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 pYou shall not hate your brother in your heart, but qyou shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you rincur sin because of him. 18 sYou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but tyou shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

19 uYou shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. vYou shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

20 If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; 21 but whe shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

23 When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.2 Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

26 xYou shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. yYou shall not interpret omens or ztell fortunes. 27 aYou shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any bcuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

29 cDo not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 dYou shall keep my Sabbaths and ereverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

31 fDo not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

32 gYou shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall hfear your God: I am the Lord.

33 iWhen a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 jYou shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and kyou shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

35 lYou shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 mYou shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:3 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And nyou shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Say to the people of Israel, oAny one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. pI myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary qunclean and rto profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not sput him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in twhoring after Molech.

If ua person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, vI will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. wConsecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. xKeep my statutes and do them; yI am the Lord who sanctifies you. For zanyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; ahis blood is upon him.

10 If a bman commits adultery with the wife of4 his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 cIf a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12 dIf a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed eperversion; their blood is upon them. 13 fIf a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14 gIf a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15 hIf a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 hIf a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

17 iIf a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 jIf a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 kYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked lone’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 mIf a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 nIf a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.5 He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

22 oYou shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not pvomit you out. 23 qAnd you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But rI have said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land sflowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, twho has separated you from the peoples. 25 uYou shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 vYou shall be holy to me, wfor I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

27 xA man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ystoned with stones; ztheir blood shall be upon them.

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Isaiah 66

aThus says the Lord:

bHeaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?

cAll these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be,

declares the Lord.

dBut this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.

eHe who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;

he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers fpig’s blood;

he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

gThese have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations;

hI also will choose harsh treatment for them

and bring itheir fears upon them,

jbecause when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke, they did not listen;

kbut they did what was evil in my eyes

and chose that in which I did not delight.

Hear the word of the Lord,

you who tremble at his word:

Your brothers who hate you

and cast you out for my name’s sake

have said, lLet the Lord be glorified,

that we may see your joy;

but it is they who shall be put to shame.

The sound of an uproar from the city!

A sound from the temple!

The sound of the Lord,

mrendering recompense to his enemies!

nBefore she was in labor

she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her

she delivered a son.

Who has heard such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?

For nas soon as Zion was in labor

she brought forth her children.

Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?

says the Lord;

shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?

says your God.

10  oRejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice with her in joy,

all you who mourn over her;

11  that you may nurse and be satisfied

from her consoling breast;

that you may drink deeply with delight

from her glorious abundance.1

12  For thus says the Lord:

pBehold, I will extend peace to her like a river,

and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and qyou shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,

and bounced upon her knees.

13  As one whom his mother comforts,

so rI will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14  You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

syour bones shall flourish like the grass;

and tthe hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,

and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.

15  For behold, uthe Lord will come in fire,

and vhis chariots like the whirlwind,

to render his anger in fury,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

16  For wby fire xwill the Lord enter into judgment,

and by his sword, with all flesh;

and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

17 yThose who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, zeating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.

18 For I know2 their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming3 ato gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them bI will send survivors to the nations, to cTarshish, dPul, and dLud, who draw the bow, to eTubal and eJavan, fto the coastlands far away, gthat have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 hAnd they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations ias an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 jAnd some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

22  For as kthe new heavens and the new earth

that I make

shall remain before me, says the Lord,

so lshall your offspring and your name remain.

23  mFrom new moon to new moon,

and from Sabbath to Sabbath,

all flesh shall come to worship before me,

declares the Lord.

24 And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For ntheir worm shall not die, otheir fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

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Ezekiel 20:1–20

qIn the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of rthe elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, sand sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me: tSon of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Is it to inquire of me that you come? uAs I live, declares the Lord God, vI will not be inquired of by you. wWill you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? xLet them know the abominations of their fathers, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: yOn the day when I chose Israel, zI swore1 to the offspring of the house of Jacob, amaking myself known to them in the land of Egypt; zI swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God. On that day I swore to them that bI would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land bflowing with milk and honey, cthe most glorious of all lands. And I said to them, dCast away the detestable things eyour eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with fthe idols of Egypt; gI am the Lord your God. hBut they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. iNone of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them jand spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. kBut I acted lfor the sake of my name, mthat it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, nin whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 oSo I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 pI gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, qby which, if a person does them, he shall live. 12 Moreover, I gave them rmy Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, sthat they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 13 tBut the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. uThey did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; vand my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.

tThen I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them. 14 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, win whose sight I had brought them out. 15 Moreover, xI swore to them in the wilderness ythat I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land zflowing with milk and honey, zthe most glorious of all lands, 16 because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; afor their heart went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless, bmy eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or cmake a full end of them in the wilderness.

18 And I said to dtheir children in the wilderness, Do not walk ein the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, fnor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 gI am the Lord your God; hwalk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, 20 and ikeep my Sabbaths holy that jthey may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

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Ezekiel 22:1–16

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, And you, yson of man, zwill you judge, will you judge athe bloody city? bThen declare to her all her abominations. You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that cher time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! You have become guilty aby the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought cyour days near, the appointed time of1 your years has come. dTherefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; eyour name is defiled; fyou are full of tumult.

Behold, gthe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. Father and mother hare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner isuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow iare wronged in you. jYou have despised my holy things and kprofaned my Sabbaths. lThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you mwho eat on the mountains; nthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you omen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 pOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; qanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ranother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you sthey take bribes to shed blood; tyou take interest and profit2 and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ume you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

13 Behold, vI strike my hand at wthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at xthe blood that has been in your midst. 14 yCan your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? zI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 aI will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and bI will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And cyou shall be profaned by your own doing din the sight of the nations, eand you shall know that I am the Lord.

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Amos 9:7–15

Are you not like sthe Cushites to me,

O people of Israel? declares the Lord.

tDid I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

and uthe Philistines from vCaphtor and the Syrians from wKir?

Behold, xthe eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,

yexcept that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,

declares the Lord.

For behold, I will command,

zand shake the house of Israel among all the nations

as one shakes with a sieve,

but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

who say, aDisaster shall not overtake or meet us.

11  In that day bI will raise up

the booth of David that is fallen

and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins

and rebuild it as in the days of old,

12  cthat they may possess the remnant of Edom

and dall the nations who are called by my name,1

declares the Lord who does this.

13  Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

ewhen the plowman shall overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

fthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it.

14  gI will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and hthey shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;

ithey shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

15  jI will plant them on their land,

kand they shall never again be uprooted

out of the land lthat I have given them,

says the Lord your God.

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Matthew 5:33–37

33 Again hyou have heard that it was said to those of old, qYou shall not swear falsely, but rshall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 34 But I say to you, sDo not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for tit is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is uthe city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply Yes or No; vanything more than this comes from evil.1

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Matthew 28

mNow after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and nthe other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for oan angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. pHis appearance was like lightning, and qhis clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and rbecame like dead men. But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, sas he said. Come, see the place where he1 lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, the is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb uwith fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus vmet them and said, Greetings! And they came up and wtook hold of his feet and xworshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid; ygo and tell zmy brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

11 While they were going, behold, some of athe guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, Tell people, bHis disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. 14 And if this comes to cthe governor’s ears, we will dsatisfy him and keep you out of trouble. 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews eto this day.

16 Now the eleven disciples fwent to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they gworshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, hAll authority iin heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 jGo therefore and kmake disciples of lall nations, jbaptizing them min2 nthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them oto observe all that pI have commanded you. And behold, qI am with you always, to rthe end of the age.

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Romans 1:18–32

18 For kthe wrath of God lis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be mknown about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, nhave been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,1 in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they obecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 pClaiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and qexchanged the glory of rthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore sGod gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to tthe dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for ua lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, vwho is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason wGod gave them up to xdishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ymen committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, zGod gave them up to aa debased mind to do bwhat ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know cGod’s righteous decree that those who practice such things ddeserve to die, they not only do them but egive approval to those who practice them.

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Romans 13:8–10

wOwe no one anything, except to love each other, for xthe one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, yYou shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: zYou shall love your neighbor as yourself. 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore alove is the fulfilling of the law.

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Galatians 5:13–26

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. qOnly do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love rserve one another. 14 For sthe whole law is fulfilled in one word: tYou shall love your neighbor as yourself. 15 But if you ubite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, vwalk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify wthe desires of the flesh. 17 For xthe desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, yto keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are zled by the Spirit, ayou are not under the law. 19 Now bthe works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, cdivisions, 21 envy,1 drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that dthose who do2 such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But ethe fruit of the Spirit is flove, joy, peace, patience, gkindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 hgentleness, iself-control; jagainst such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus khave crucified the flesh with its lpassions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, mlet us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 nLet us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

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2 View All Leviticus 19:27