Deuteronomy 30; Deuteronomy 31; Mark 15:1-25

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Deuteronomy 30

1 "I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse. When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you.
2 If you and your descendants will turn back to the Lord and with all your heart obey his commands that I am giving you today,
3 then the Lord your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again.
4 Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together and bring you back,
5 so that you may again take possession of the land where your ancestors once lived. And he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors ever were.
6 The Lord your God will give you and your descendants obedient hearts, so that you will love him with all your heart, and you will continue to live in that land.
7 He will turn all these curses against your enemies, who hated you and oppressed you,
8 and you will again obey him and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.
9 The Lord will make you prosperous in all that you do; you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be as glad to make you prosperous as he was to make your ancestors prosperous,
10 but you will have to obey him and keep all his laws that are written in this book of his teachings. You will have to turn to him with all your heart.
11 "The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach.
12 It is not up in the sky. You do not have to ask, "Who will go up and bring it down for us, so that we can hear it and obey it?'
13 Nor is it on the other side of the ocean. You do not have to ask, "Who will go across the ocean and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?'
14 No, it is here with you. You know it and can quote it, so now obey it.
15 "Today I am giving you a choice between good and evil, between life and death.
16 If you obey the commands of the Lord your God, which I give you today, if you love him, obey him, and keep all his laws, then you will prosper and become a nation of many people. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to occupy.
17 But if you disobey and refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods,
18 you will be destroyed - I warn you here and now. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy.
19 I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life.
20 Love the Lord your God, obey him and be faithful to him, and then you and your descendants will live long in the land that he promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Deuteronomy 31

1 Moses continued speaking to the people of Israel,
2 and said, "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to be your leader. And besides this, the Lord has told me that I will not cross the Jordan.
3 The Lord your God himself will go before you and destroy the nations living there, so that you can occupy their land; and Joshua will be your leader, as the Lord has said.
4 The Lord will destroy those people, just as he defeated Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and destroyed their country.
5 The Lord will give you victory over them, and you are to treat them exactly as I have told you.
6 Be determined and confident. Do not be afraid of them. Your God, the Lord himself, will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you."
7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the presence of all the people of Israel, "Be determined and confident; you are the one who will lead these people to occupy the land that the Lord promised to their ancestors.
8 The Lord himself will lead you and be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you, so do not lose courage or be afraid."
9 So Moses wrote down God's Law and gave it to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box, and to the leaders of Israel.
10 He commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, when the year that debts are canceled comes around, read this aloud at the Festival of Shelters.
11 Read it to the people of Israel when they come to worship the Lord your God at the one place of worship.
12 Call together all the men, women, and children, and the foreigners who live in your towns, so that everyone may hear it and learn to honor the Lord your God and to obey his teachings faithfully.
13 In this way your descendants who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God will hear it. And so they will learn to obey him as long as they live in the land that you are about to occupy across the Jordan."
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, "You do not have much longer to live. Call Joshua and bring him to the Tent, so that I may give him his instructions." Moses and Joshua went to the Tent,
15 and the Lord appeared to them there in a pillar of cloud that stood by the door of the Tent.
16 The Lord said to Moses, "You will soon die, and after your death the people will become unfaithful to me and break the covenant that I made with them. They will abandon me and worship the pagan gods of the land they are about to enter.
17 When that happens, I will become angry with them; I will abandon them, and they will be destroyed. Many terrible disasters will come upon them, and then they will realize that these things are happening to them because I, their God, am no longer with them.
18 And I will refuse to help them then, because they have done evil and worshiped other gods.
19 "Now, write down this song. Teach it to the people of Israel, so that it will stand as evidence against them.
20 I will take them into this rich and fertile land, as I promised their ancestors. There they will have all the food they want, and they will live comfortably. But they will turn away and worship other gods. They will reject me and break my covenant,
21 and many terrible disasters will come on them. But this song will still be sung, and it will stand as evidence against them. Even now, before I take them into the land that I promised to give them, I know what they are thinking."
22 That same day Moses wrote down the song and taught it to the people of Israel.
23 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun and told him, "Be confident and determined. You will lead the people of Israel into the land that I promised them, and I will be with you."
24 Moses wrote God's Law in a book, taking care not to leave out anything.
25 When he finished, he said to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box,
26 "Take this book of God's Law and place it beside the Covenant Box of the Lord your God, so that it will remain there as a witness against his people.
27 I know how stubborn and rebellious they are. They have rebelled against the Lord during my lifetime, and they will rebel even more after I am dead.
28 Assemble all your tribal leaders and officials before me, so that I can tell them these things; I will call heaven and earth to be my witnesses against them.
29 I know that after my death the people will become wicked and reject what I have taught them. And in time to come they will meet with disaster, because they will have made the Lord angry by doing what he has forbidden."
30 Then Moses recited the entire song while all the people of Israel listened.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Mark 15:1-25

1 Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
2 Pilate questioned him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "So you say."
3 The chief priests were accusing Jesus of many things,
4 so Pilate questioned him again, "Aren't you going to answer? Listen to all their accusations!"
5 Again Jesus refused to say a word, and Pilate was amazed.
6 At every Passover Festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for.
7 At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot.
8 When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favor,
9 he asked them, "Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?"
10 He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.
11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, that Pilate set Barabbas free for them.
12 Pilate spoke again to the crowd, "What, then, do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?"
13 They shouted back, "Crucify him!"
14 "But what crime has he committed?" Pilate asked. They shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
15 Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified.
16 The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor's palace and called together the rest of the company.
17 They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on his head.
18 Then they began to salute him: "Long live the King of the Jews!"
19 They beat him over the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to him.
20 When they had finished making fun of him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
21 On the way they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross. (Simon was from Cyrene and was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)
22 They took Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means "The Place of the Skull."
23 There they tried to give him wine mixed with a drug called myrrh, but Jesus would not drink it.
24 Then they crucified him and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing dice to see who would get which piece of clothing.
25 It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.