Deuteronomy 13; Deuteronomy 14; Deuteronomy 15; Mark 12:28-44

1 Prophets or those who tell the future with dreams might come to you and say they will show you a miracle or a sign.

2 The miracle or sign might even happen, and then they might say, "Let's serve other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let's worship them."

3 But you must not listen to those prophets or dreamers. The Lord your God is testing you, to find out if you love him with your whole being.

4 Serve only the Lord your God. Respect him, keep his commands, and obey him. Serve him and be loyal to him.

5 The prophets or dreamers must be killed, because they said you should turn against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and saved you from the land where you were slaves. They tried to turn you from doing what the Lord your God commanded you to do. You must get rid of the evil among you.

6 Someone might try to lead you to serve other gods -- it might be your brother, your son or daughter, the wife you love, or a close friend. The person might say, "Let's go and worship other gods." (These are gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known,

7 gods of the people who live around you, either nearby or far away, from one end of the land to the other.)

8 Do not give in to such people. Do not listen or feel sorry for them, and do not let them go free or protect them.

9 You must put them to death. You must be the first one to start to kill them, and then everyone else must join in.

10 You must throw stones at them until they die, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.

11 Then everyone in Israel will hear about this and be afraid, and no one among you will ever do such an evil thing again.

12 The Lord your God is giving you cities in which to live, and you might hear something about one of them. Someone might say

13 that evil people have moved in among you. And they might lead the people of that city away from God, saying, "Let's go and worship other gods." (These are gods you have not known.)

14 Then you must ask about it, looking into the matter and checking carefully whether it is true. If it is proved that a hateful thing has happened among you,

15 you must kill with a sword everyone who lives in that city. Destroy the city completely and kill everyone in it, as well as the animals, with a sword.

16 Gather up everything those people owned, and put it in the middle of the city square. Then completely burn the city and everything they owned as a burnt offering to the Lord your God. That city should never be rebuilt; let it be ruined forever.

17 Don't keep for yourselves any of the things found in that city, so the Lord will not be angry anymore. He will give you mercy and feel sorry for you, and he will make your nation grow larger, as he promised to your ancestors.

18 You will have obeyed the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving to you today, and you will be doing what the Lord says is right.

1 You are the children of the Lord your God. When someone dies, do not cut yourselves or shave your heads to show your sadness.

2 You are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on earth to be his very own.

3 Do not eat anything the Lord hates.

4 These are the animals you may eat: oxen, sheep, goats,

5 deer, gazelle, roe deer, wild goats, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep.

6 You may eat any animal that has a split hoof and chews the cud,

7 but you may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. These animals chew the cud, but they do not have split hoofs, so they are unclean for you.

8 Pigs are also unclean for you; they have split hoofs, but they do not chew the cud. Do not eat their meat or touch their dead bodies.

9 There are many things that live in the water. You may eat anything that has fins and scales,

10 but do not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. It is unclean for you.

11 You may eat any clean bird.

12 But do not eat these birds: eagles, vultures, black vultures,

13 red kites, falcons, any kind of kite,

14 any kind of raven,

15 horned owls, screech owls, sea gulls, any kind of hawk,

16 little owls, great owls, white owls,

17 desert owls, ospreys, cormorants,

18 storks, any kind of heron, the hoopoes, or bats.

19 All insects with wings are unclean for you; do not eat them.

20 Other things with wings are clean, and you may eat them.

21 Do not eat anything you find that is already dead. You may give it to a foreigner living in your town, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Do not cook a baby goat in its mother's milk.

22 Be sure to save one-tenth of all your crops each year.

23 Take it to the place the Lord your God will choose where he is to be worshiped. There, where you will be together with the Lord, eat the tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and eat the animals born first to your herds and flocks. Do this so that you will learn to respect the Lord your God always.

24 But if the place the Lord will choose to be worshiped is too far away and he has blessed you so much you cannot carry a tenth,

25 exchange your one-tenth for silver. Then take the silver with you to the place the Lord your God shall choose.

26 Use the silver to buy anything you wish -- cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or anything you wish. Then you and your family will eat and celebrate there before the Lord your God.

27 Do not forget the Levites in your town, because they have no land of their own among you.

28 At the end of every third year, everyone should bring one-tenth of that year's crop and store it in your towns.

29 This is for the Levites so they may eat and be full. (They have no land of their own among you.) It is also for strangers, orphans, and widows who live in your towns so that all of them may eat and be full. Then the Lord your God will bless you and all the work you do.

1 At the end of every seven years, you must tell those who owe you anything that they do not have to pay you back.

2 This is how you must do it: Everyone who has loaned money must cancel the loan and not make a neighbor or relative pay it back. This is the Lord's time for canceling what people owe.

3 You may make a foreigner pay what is owed to you, but you must not collect what another Israelite owes you.

4 But there should be no poor people among you, because the Lord your God will richly bless you in the land he is giving you as your own.

5 He will bless you if you obey the Lord your God completely, but you must be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today.

6 The Lord your God will bless you as he promised, and you will lend to other nations, but you will not need to borrow from them. You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you.

7 If there are poor among you, in one of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be selfish or greedy toward them.

8 But give freely to them, and freely lend them whatever they need.

9 Beware of evil thoughts. Don't think, "The seventh year is near, the year to cancel what people owe." You might be mean to the needy and not give them anything. Then they will complain to the Lord about you, and he will find you guilty of sin.

10 Give freely to the poor person, and do not wish that you didn't have to give. The Lord your God will bless your work and everything you touch.

11 There will always be poor people in the land, so I command you to give freely to your neighbors and to the poor and needy in your land.

12 If one of your own people sells himself to you as a slave, whether it is a Hebrew man or woman, that person will serve you for six years. But in the seventh year you must let the slave go free.

13 When you let slaves go, don't send them away without anything.

14 Give them some of your flock, your grain, and your wine, giving to them as the Lord has given to you.

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God saved you. That is why I am commanding this to you today.

16 But if your slave says to you, "I don't want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and has a good life with you,

17 stick an awln through his ear into the door; he will be your slave for life. Also do this to a female slave.

18 Do not think of it as a hard thing when you let your slaves go free. After all, they served you six years and did twice the work of a hired person. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

19 Save all the first male animals born to your herds and flocks. They are for the Lord your God. Do not work the first calf born to your oxen, and do not cut off the wool from the first lamb born to your sheep.

20 Each year you and your family are to eat these animals in the presence of the Lord your God, in the place he will choose to be worshiped.

21 If an animal is crippled or blind or has something else wrong, do not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

22 But you may eat that animal in your own town. Both clean and unclean people may eat it, as they would eat a gazelle or a deer.

23 But don't eat its blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard Jesus arguing with the Sadducees. Seeing that Jesus gave good answers to their questions, he asked Jesus, "Which of the commands is most important?"

29 Jesus answered, "The most important command is this: 'Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.'

31 The second command is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' There are no commands more important than these."

32 The man answered, "That was a good answer, Teacher. You were right when you said God is the only Lord and there is no other God besides him.

33 One must love God with all his heart, all his mind, and all his strength. And one must love his neighbor as he loves himself. These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God."

34 When Jesus saw that the man answered him wisely, Jesus said to him, "You are close to the kingdom of God." And after that, no one was brave enough to ask Jesus any more questions.

35 As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, "Why do the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David?

36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit by me at my right side, until I put your enemies under your control.'

37 David himself calls the Christ 'Lord,' so how can the Christ be his son?" The large crowd listened to Jesus with pleasure.

38 Jesus continued teaching and said, "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing fancy clothes, and they love for people to greet them with respect in the marketplaces.

39 They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and at feasts.

40 But they cheat widows and steal their houses and then try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. They will receive a greater punishment."

41 Jesus sat near the Temple money box and watched the people put in their money. Many rich people gave large sums of money.

42 Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which were only worth a few cents.

43 Calling his followers to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people.

44 They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had; she gave all she had to live on."