Deuteronomy 22; Deuteronomy 23; Deuteronomy 24; Mark 14:1-26

1 If you see another Israelite's ox or sheep out where it doesn't belong, don't pretend that you don't see it. Make sure you take it back.

2 If the owner doesn't live near you or you don't know who owns it, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then give it back.

3 Do the same if you find a donkey, some clothes, or anything else that another Israelite may have lost. Don't pretend that you don't know what to do.

4 If you see another Israelite's donkey or ox lying on the road, don't pretend that you don't see it. Make sure you help him get it back on its feet.

5 A woman must never wear anything men would wear, and a man must never wear women's clothes. Whoever does this is disgusting to the LORD your God.

6 Whenever you're traveling and find a nest containing chicks or eggs, this is what you must do. If the mother bird is sitting on the nest, never take her with the chicks.

7 You may take the chicks, but make sure you let the mother go. Then things will go well for you, and you will live for a long time.

8 Whenever you build a new house, put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you won't be responsible for a death at your home if someone falls off the roof.

9 Never plant anything between the rows in your vineyard. Otherwise, you will have to give everything that grows there to the holy place. This includes the crop you planted and the grapes from the vineyard.

10 Never plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.

11 Never wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.

12 Make tassels on the four corners of the shawl you wear over your clothes.

13 A man might marry a woman, sleep with her, and decide he doesn't like her.

14 Then he might make up charges against her and ruin her reputation by saying, "I married this woman. But when I slept with her, I found out she wasn't a virgin."

15 The girl's father and mother must go to the city gate where the leaders of the city are and submit the evidence that their daughter was a virgin.

16 The girl's father will tell the leaders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he doesn't like her.

17 Now he has made up charges against her. He says he found out that my daughter wasn't a virgin. But here's the evidence!" Then the girl's parents must spread out the cloth in front of the leaders of the city.

18 The leaders of that city must take the man and punish him.

19 They will fine him 2½ pounds of silver and give it to the girl's father. The husband ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

20 But if the charge is true, and no evidence that the girl was a virgin can be found,

21 they must take the girl to the entrance of her father's house. The men of her city must stone her to death because she has committed such a godless act in Israel: She had sex before marriage, while she was still living in her father's house. You must get rid of this evil.

22 If a man is caught having sexual intercourse with a married woman, both that man and the woman must die. You must get rid of this evil in Israel.

23 This is what you must do when a man has sexual intercourse with a virgin who is engaged to another man. If this happens in a city,

24 take them to the gate of the city and stone them to death. The girl must die because she was in a city and didn't scream for help. The man must die because he had sex with another man's wife. You must get rid of this evil.

25 But if a man rapes an engaged girl out in the country, then only the man must die.

26 Don't do anything to the girl. She has not committed a sin for which she deserves to die. This is like the case of someone who attacks and murders another person.

27 The man found the girl out in the country. She may have screamed for help, but no one was there to rescue her.

28 This is what you must do when a man rapes a virgin who isn't engaged. When the crime is discovered,

29 the man who had sexual intercourse with her must give the girl's father 1¼ pounds of silver, and she will become his wife. Since he raped her, he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

30 A man must never marry his father's wife because this would disgrace his father.

1 A man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off may never join the assembly of the LORD.

2 A man born from an illicit union may not join the assembly of the LORD. No descendant of his may join the assembly of the LORD for ten generations.

3 Ammonites or Moabites may not join the assembly of the LORD. Not one descendant of theirs may join the assembly of the LORD for ten generations.

4 They cannot join because they didn't greet you with food and water on your trip from Egypt. They even hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor in Aram Naharaim, to curse you.

5 But the LORD your God refused to listen to Balaam. Instead, he turned Balaam's curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.

6 Never offer them peace or friendship as long as you live.

7 Never consider the Edomites disgusting. They're your relatives. Never consider the Egyptians disgusting. You once were foreigners living in their country.

8 Their grandchildren may join the assembly of the LORD.

9 When you're at war and have set up camp to fight your enemies, stay away from anything that will make you unclean.

10 If one of your men becomes unclean from a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there.

11 Toward evening he must wash, and at sunset he may come back to camp.

12 Choose a place outside the camp where you can go [to relieve yourself].

13 You must carry a pointed stick as part of your equipment. When you go outside to squat, dig a hole with it. When you're done, cover up your excrement.

14 The LORD your God moves around in your camp to protect you and hand your enemies over to you. So your camp must always be holy. This way, the LORD will never see anything offensive among you and turn away from you.

15 If a slave escapes from his master and comes to you, don't return him to his master.

16 Let him stay with you [and live] among your people wherever he chooses, in any of your cities that seems best to him. Never mistreat him.

17 No Israelite man or woman should ever become a temple prostitute.

18 Never bring gifts or money earned by prostitution into the house of the LORD your God as an offering you vowed to give. These earnings are disgusting to the LORD your God.

19 Never charge another Israelite any interest on money, food, or anything else that is borrowed.

20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but not an Israelite. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do once you've entered the land and taken possession of it.

21 If you make a vow to the LORD your God, don't avoid keeping it. The LORD your God expects you to keep it. You would be guilty of a sin if you didn't.

22 If you didn't make a vow, you would not be guilty.

23 Make sure you do what you said you would do [in your vow]. You freely chose to make your vow to the LORD your God.

24 If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you like until you're full. But never put any in your basket.

25 If you go into your neighbor's grain field, you may pick grain by hand. But never use a sickle to cut your neighbor's grain.

1 This is what you must do if a husband writes out a certificate of divorce, gives it to his wife, and makes her leave his house. (He divorced her because he found out something indecent about her and she no longer pleased him.)

2 She might marry another man after she leaves his house.

3 If her second husband doesn't love her and divorces her, or if he dies,

4 her first husband is not allowed to marry her again. She has become unclean. This would be disgusting in the LORD's presence. Don't pollute with sin the land that the LORD your God is giving you as your property.

5 A man who has recently been married will be free from military duty or any other public service. For one year he is free to stay at home and make his new wife happy.

6 Never let a family's handmill for grinding flour--or even part of a handmill--be taken to guarantee a loan. The family wouldn't be able to prepare food in order to stay alive.

7 Whoever kidnaps another Israelite must die. The kidnapper must die, whether he treated the other person like a slave or sold him. You must get rid of this evil.

8 Guard against outbreaks of serious skin diseases. Be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. Make sure you do what I commanded them.

9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on your trip from Egypt.

10 When you make a loan to your neighbor, don't go into his house to take a security deposit.

11 Wait outside, and the person to whom you're making the loan will bring the deposit out to you.

12 If the person is poor, don't keep the coat you took as a deposit overnight.

13 Make sure you bring it back to him at sunset. When he wears his coat to bed [that night], he'll bless you. You will have done the right thing in the presence of the LORD your God.

14 Don't withhold pay from hired workers who are poor and needy, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living in one of your cities.

15 Pay them each day before sunset because they are poor and need their pay. Otherwise, they will complain to the LORD about you, and you will be condemned for your sin.

16 Parents must never be put to death for the crimes of their children, and children must never be put to death for the crimes of their parents. Each person must be put to death for his own crime.

17 Never deprive foreigners and orphans of justice. And never take widows' clothes to guarantee a loan.

18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God freed you from slavery. So I'm commanding you to do this.

19 This is what you must do when you're harvesting wheat in your field. If you forget to bring in one of the bundles of wheat, don't go back to get it. Leave it there for foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

20 When you harvest olives from your trees, never knock down all of them. Leave some for foreigners, orphans, and widows.

21 When you pick the grapes in your vineyard, don't pick all of them. Leave some for foreigners, orphans, and widows.

22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. So I'm commanding you to do this.

1 It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for some underhanded way to arrest Jesus and to kill him.

2 However, they said, "We shouldn't arrest him during the festival, or else there will be a riot among the people."

3 Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had suffered from a skin disease. While Jesus was sitting there, a woman went to him. She had a bottle of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She opened the bottle and poured the perfume on his head.

4 Some who were there were irritated and said to one another, "Why was the perfume wasted like this?

5 This perfume could have been sold for a high price, and the money could have been given to the poor." So they said some very unkind things to her.

6 Jesus said, "Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.

7 You will always have the poor with you and can help them whenever you want. But you will not always have me with you.

8 She did what she could. She came to pour perfume on my body before it is placed in a tomb.

9 I can guarantee this truth: Wherever the Good News is spoken in the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."

10 Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus.

11 They were pleased to hear what Judas had to say and promised to give him money. So he kept looking for a chance to betray Jesus.

12 Killing the Passover lamb was customary on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The disciples asked Jesus, "Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?"

13 He sent two of his disciples and told them, "Go into the city. You will meet a man carrying a jug of water. Follow him.

14 When he goes into a house, tell the owner that the teacher asks, 'Where is my room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?'

15 He will take you upstairs and show you a large room. The room will be completely furnished. Get everything ready for us there."

16 The disciples left. They went into the city and found everything as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the twelve apostles.

18 While they were at the table eating, Jesus said, "I can guarantee this truth: One of you is going to betray me, one who is eating with me!"

19 Feeling hurt, they asked him one by one, "You don't mean me, do you?"

20 He said to them, "It's one of you twelve, someone dipping his hand into the bowl with me.

21 The Son of Man is going to die as the Scriptures say he will. But how horrible it will be for that person who betrays the Son of Man! It would have been better for that person if he had never been born."

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. He broke the bread, gave it to them, and said, "Take this. This is my body."

23 Then he took a cup, spoke a prayer of thanksgiving, and gave the cup to them. They all drank from it.

24 He said to them, "This is my blood, the blood of the promise. It is poured out for many people.

25 "I can guarantee this truth: I won't drink this wine again until that day when I drink new wine in the kingdom of God."

26 After they sang a hymn, they went to the Mount of Olives.