Deuteronomy 10; Deuteronomy 11; Deuteronomy 12; Mark 12:1-27

1 At that time the Lord said to me, "Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden Ark.

2 I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you will put the new tablets in the Ark."

3 So I made the Ark out of acacia wood, and I cut out two stone tablets like the first ones. Then I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

4 The Lord wrote the same things on these tablets he had written before -- the Ten Commandments that he had told you on the mountain from the fire, on the day you were gathered there. And the Lord gave them to me.

5 Then I turned and came down the mountain; I put the tablets in the Ark I had made, as the Lord had commanded, and they are still there.

6 (The people of Israel went from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried; his son Eleazar became priest in his place.

7 From Moserah they went to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah they went to Jotbathah, a place with streams of water.

8 At that time the Lord chose the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord. They were to serve the Lord and to bless the people in his name, which they still do today.

9 That is why the Levites did not receive any land of their own; instead, they received the Lord himself as their gift, as the Lord your God told them.)

10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights just like the first time, and the Lord listened to me this time also. He did not want to destroy you.

11 The Lord said to me, "Go and lead the people so that they will go in and take the land I promised their ancestors."

12 Now, Israel, this is what the Lord your God wants you to do: Respect the Lord your God, and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord your God with your whole being,

13 and obey the Lord's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good.

14 The Lord owns the world and everything in it -- the heavens, even the highest heavens, are his.

15 But the Lord cared for and loved your ancestors, and he chose you, their descendants, over all the other nations, just as it is today.

16 Give yourselves completely to serving him, and do not be stubborn any longer.

17 The Lord your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords. He is the great God, who is strong and wonderful. He does not take sides, and he will not be talked into doing evil.

18 He helps orphans and widows, and he loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes.

19 You also must love foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

20 Respect the Lord your God and serve him. Be loyal to him and make your promises in his name.

21 He is the one you should praise; he is your God, who has done great and wonderful things for you, which you have seen with your own eyes.

22 There were only seventy of your ancestors when they went down to Egypt, and now the Lord your God has made you as many as the stars in the sky.

1 Love the Lord your God and always obey his orders, rules, laws, and commands.

2 Remember today it was not your children who saw and felt the correction of the Lord your God. They did not see his majesty, his power, his strength,

3 or his signs and the things he did in Egypt to the king and his whole country.

4 They did not see what he did to the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, when he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you. The Lord ruined them forever.

5 They did not see what he did for you in the desert until you arrived here.

6 They did not see what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the ground opened up and swallowed them, their families, their tents, and everyone who stood with them in Israel.

7 It was you who saw all these great things the Lord has done.

8 So obey all the commands I am giving you today so that you will be strong and can go in and take the land you are going to take as your own.

9 Then you will live a long time in the land that the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a fertile land.

10 The land you are going to take is not like Egypt, where you were. There you had to plant your seed and water it, like a vegetable garden, by using your feet.

11 But the land that you will soon cross the Jordan River to take is a land of hills and valleys, a land that drinks rain from heaven.

12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for. His eyes are on it continually, and he watches it from the beginning of the year to the end.

13 If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today and love the Lord your God and serve him with your whole being,

14 then he will send rain on your land at the right time, in the fall and spring, and you will be able to gather your grain, new wine, and oil.

15 He will put grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will have plenty to eat.

16 Be careful, or you will be fooled and will turn away to serve and worship other gods.

17 If you do, the Lord will become angry with you and will shut the heavens so it will not rain. Then the land will not grow crops, and you will soon die in the good land the Lord is giving you.

18 Remember my words with your whole being. Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign; tie them on your foreheads to remind you.

19 Teach them well to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

20 Write them on your doors and gates

21 so that both you and your children will live a long time in the land the Lord promised your ancestors, as long as the skies are above the earth.

22 If you are careful to obey every command I am giving you to follow, and love the Lord your God, and do what he has told you to do, and are loyal to him,

23 then the Lord will force all those nations out of the land ahead of you, and you will take the land from nations that are bigger and stronger than you.

24 Everywhere you step will be yours. Your land will go from the desert to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

25 No one will be able to stop you. The Lord your God will do what he promised and will make the people afraid everywhere you go.

26 See, today I am letting you choose a blessing or a curse.

27 You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.

28 But you will be cursed if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God. So do not disobey the commands I am giving you today, and do not worship other gods you do not know.

29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you will take as your own, you are to announce the blessings from Mount Gerizim and the curses from Mount Ebal.

30 (These mountains are on the other side of the Jordan River, to the west, toward the sunset. They are near the great trees of Moreh in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley opposite Gilgal.)

31 You will soon cross the Jordan River to enter and take the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and live there,

32 be careful to obey all the commands and laws I am giving you today.

1 These are the commands and laws you must carefully obey in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Obey them as long as you live in the land.

2 When you inherit the lands of these nations, you must completely destroy all the places where they serve their gods, on high mountains and hills and under every green tree.

3 Tear down their altars, smash their holy stone pillars, and burn their Asherah idols in the fire. Cut down their idols and destroy their names from those places.

4 Don't worship the Lord your God that way,

5 but look for the place the Lord your God will choose -- a place among your tribes where he is to be worshiped. Go there,

6 and bring to that place your burnt offerings and sacrifices; bring a tenth of what you gain and your special gifts; bring what you have promised and the special gifts you want to give the Lord, and bring the first animals born to your herds and flocks.

7 There you will be together with the Lord your God. There you and your families will eat, and you will enjoy all the good things for which you have worked, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 Do not worship the way we have been doing today, each person doing what he thinks is right.

9 You have not yet come to a resting place, to the land the Lord your God will give you as your own.

10 But soon you will cross the Jordan River to live in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, where he will give you rest from all your enemies and you will live in safety.

11 Then the Lord your God will choose a place where he is to be worshiped. To that place you must bring everything I tell you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your offerings of a tenth of what you gain, your special gifts, and all your best things you promised to the Lord.

12 There rejoice before the Lord your God. Everyone should rejoice: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no land of their own.

13 Be careful that you don't sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you please.

14 Offer them only in the place the Lord will choose. He will choose a place in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I am commanding you.

15 But you may kill your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were a deer or a gazelle; this is the blessing the Lord your God is giving you. Anyone, clean or unclean, may eat this meat,

16 but do not eat the blood. Pour it out on the ground like water.

17 Do not eat in your own towns what belongs to the Lord: one-tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the first animals born to your herds or flocks; whatever you have promised to give; the special gifts you want to give to the Lord, or any other gifts.

18 Eat these things when you are together with the Lord your God, in the place the Lord your God chooses to be worshiped. Everyone must do this: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns. Rejoice in the Lord your God's presence about the things you have worked for.

19 Be careful not to forget the Levites as long as you live in the land.

20 When the Lord your God enlarges your country as he has promised, and you want some meat so you say, "I want some meat," you may eat as much meat as you want.

21 If the Lord your God chooses a place where he is to be worshiped that is too far away from you, you may kill animals from your herds and flocks, which the Lord has given to you. I have commanded that you may do this. You may eat as much of them as you want in your own towns,

22 as you would eat gazelle or deer meat. Both clean and unclean people may eat this meat,

23 but be sure you don't eat the blood, because the life is in the blood. Don't eat the life with the meat.

24 Don't eat the blood, but pour it out on the ground like water.

25 If you don't eat it, things will go well for you and your children, because you will be doing what the Lord says is right.

26 Take your holy things and the things you have promised to give, and go to the place the Lord will choose.

27 Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices should be poured beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat.

28 Be careful to obey all the rules I am giving you so that things will always go well for you and your children, and you will be doing what the Lord your God says is good and right.

29 You will enter the land and take it away from the nations that the Lord your God will destroy ahead of you. When you force them out and live in their land,

30 they will be destroyed for you, but be careful not to be trapped by asking about their gods. Don't say, "How do these nations worship? I will do the same."

31 Don't worship the Lord your God that way, because the Lord hates the evil ways they worship their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods!

32 Be sure to do everything I have commanded you. Do not add anything to it, and do not take anything away from it.

1 Jesus began to use stories to teach the people. He said, "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a hole for a winepress and built a tower. Then he leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip.

2 When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent a servant to the farmers to get his share of the grapes.

3 But the farmers grabbed the servant and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4 Then the man sent another servant. They hit him on the head and showed no respect for him.

5 So the man sent another servant, whom they killed. The man sent many other servants; the farmers beat some of them and killed others.

6 "The man had one person left to send, his son whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

7 "But the farmers said to each other, 'This son will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, it will be ours.'

8 So they took the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 "So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those farmers and will give the vineyard to other farmers.

10 Surely you have read this Scripture: 'The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone.

11 The Lord did this, and it is wonderful to us.'"

12 The Jewish leaders knew that the story was about them. So they wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the people. So the leaders left him and went away.

13 Later, the Jewish leaders sent some Pharisees and Herodiansn to Jesus to trap him in saying something wrong.

14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are an honest man. You are not afraid of what other people think about you, because you pay no attention to who they are. And you teach the truth about God's way. Tell us: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

15 Should we pay them, or not?" But knowing what these men were really trying to do, Jesus said to them, "Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a coin to look at."

16 They gave Jesus a coin, and he asked, "Whose image and name are on the coin?" They answered, "Caesar's."

17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and give to God the things that are God's." The men were amazed at what Jesus said.

18 Then some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.)

19 They said, "Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and have children for his brother.

20 Once there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no children.

21 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother.

22 All seven brothers married her and died, and none of the brothers had any children. Finally the woman died too.

23 Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?"

24 Jesus answered, "Why don't you understand? Don't you know what the Scriptures say, and don't you know about the power of God?

25 When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven.

26 Surely you have read what God said about people rising from the dead. In the book in which Moses wrote about the burning bush, it says that God told Moses, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

27 God is the God of the living, not the dead. You Sadducees are wrong!"