Deuteronomy 13–15

1 If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass concerning that which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods,” which you have not known, “and let us serve them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or that 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. 4 You must follow after the Lord your God, fear Him, and keep His commandments, obey His voice, and you must serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 That prophet or that dreamer of dreams must be put to death because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to entice you away from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you must put the evil away from your midst.

6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your beloved wife, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 namely, of the gods of the people who are all around you, near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, neither should your eye pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him, 9 but you must surely kill him. Your hand must be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards, the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him with stones so that he dies because he has sought to entice you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 All Israel shall hear and fear and no more do any such wickedness as this among you.

12 If you hear it said in one of your cities, in which the Lord your God has given you to dwell, saying, 13 “Certain men, the sons of wickedness, are gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’” which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. If it be true and certain that such an abomination has been among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. 16 You must gather all the spoils of it into the middle of the street and burn the city with fire along with all the spoils within it for the Lord your God, and it will be a heap forever. It must not be rebuilt. 17 Nothing of the cursed thing there must cling to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you, and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, 18 if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, and do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Chapter 14

1 You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, treasured above all the nations that are on the earth.

3 You must not eat any detestable thing. 4 These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the fallow deer, the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 You may eat every animal with divided hooves, with the hoof divided into two parts, and that chews the cud. 7 Nevertheless, you may not eat of these that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: the camel, the rabbit, and the coney. For they chew the cud, but their hoof is not divided, therefore they are unclean to you. 8 The pig is unclean to you because it divides the hoof, yet it does not chew the cud. You must not eat of their flesh or touch their dead carcass.

9 These you shall eat of all that are in the water: All that have fins and scales you may eat. 10 Whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat. It is unclean to you.

11 You may eat of all clean birds. 12 However, these are the ones which you cannot eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after its kind, 14 every raven after its kind, 15 and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and the hawk after its kind, 16 the little owl, and the great owl, and the white owl, 17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, and the cormorant, 18 the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 Every creeping thing that flies is unclean to you. They must not be eaten. 20 You may eat all the clean birds.

21 You must not eat of anything that dies of itself, but you may give it to the foreigner that is in your gates, so 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 young goat in its mother’s milk.

22 You must be certain to tithe all the produce of your seed, so that the field produces year by year. 23 You must eat before the Lord your God, in the place in which He shall choose to place His name, the tithe of your grain, of your wine, of your oil, and of the firstborn of your herds and of your flocks so that you may learn to always fear the Lord your God. 24 If the distance is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, where the Lord your God shall choose to set His name, when the Lord your God blesses you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose. 26 Then you may spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your heart desires, and you may eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household, 27 and the Levite that is within your gates. You must not forsake him, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28 At the end of three years you must bring forth all the tithe of your produce the same year and lay it up within your gates. 29 Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance with you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Chapter 15

1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a relinquishing of debts. 2 This is the manner of the relinquishing: Every creditor that has loaned anything to his neighbor shall relinquish it. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother, because it is called the Lord’s relinquishment. 3 You may collect it from a foreigner, but that which your brother has that is yours your hand shall release. 4 However, there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, by carefully observing all these commandments which I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, just as He promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. You will reign over many nations, but they will not reign over you.

7 If there be among you a poor man, one of your brothers within any of your gates in your land which the Lord your God has given you, you must not harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. 8 But you shall open your hand wide to him and must surely lend him what is sufficient for his need, in that which he lacks. 9 Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, 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 become sin in you. 10 You must surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because in this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand to do. 11 For the poor will never cease from being in the land. Therefore, I command you, saying, “You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and needy in your land.”

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 must let him go free from you. 13 When you send him out free from you, you must not let him go away empty-handed. 14 You shall supply him liberally out of your flock, out of your floor, and out of your winepress. From that with which the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. Therefore, I command this to you today.

16 It shall be, 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 must take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. And you shall also do likewise to your female servant.

18 It will not seem difficult for you when you send him away free from you, for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 You must sanctify all the firstborn males that come out of your herd and flock to the Lord your God. You must do no work with the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20 You shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place where the Lord shall choose, you and your household. 21 If there is any defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has a serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean person alike shall eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you must not eat its blood. You shall pour it on the ground like water.

Mark 12:28–44

28 One of the scribes came and heard them reasoning together. Perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

32 The scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, that there is one God and there is no other but Him. 33 To love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to ask Him any question.

35 While Jesus taught in the temple, He said, “How can the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David? 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

until I put Your enemies

under Your feet.”’

37 David himself calls Him ‘Lord.’ How then is He his Son?”

And the large crowd heard him gladly.

38 He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who love to go about in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and the prominent seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive greater condemnation.”

41 Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. Many who were rich put in much. 42 But a certain poor widow came and put in two mites, which make a farthing.

43 He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 They all contributed out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had, her entire livelihood.”