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

1 If you see your fellow Israelite's ox or sheep wandering away, don't ignore it. Take it back to its owner.

2 If the owner does not live close to you, or if you do not know who the owner is, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it; then give it back.

3 Do the same thing if you find a donkey or coat or anything someone lost. Don't just ignore it.

4 If you see your fellow Israelite's donkey or ox fallen on the road, don't ignore it. Help the owner get it up.

5 A woman must not wear men's clothes, and a man must not wear women's clothes. The Lord your God hates anyone who does that.

6 If you find a bird's nest by the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on the young birds or eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young birds.

7 You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go free. Then things will go well for you, and you will live a long time.

8 When you build a new house, build a low wall around the edge of the roofn so you will not be guilty if someone falls off the roof.

9 Don't plant two different kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, both crops will be ruined.

10 Don't plow with an ox and a donkey tied together.

11 Don't wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.

12 Tie several pieces of thread together; then put these tassels on the four corners of your coat.

13 If a man marries a girl and has sexual relations with her but then decides he does not like her,

14 he might talk badly about her and give her a bad name. He might say, "I married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her, I did not find that she was a virgin."

15 Then the girl's parents must bring proof that she was a virgin to the older leaders at the city gate.

16 The girl's father will say to the leaders, "I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, but now he does not want her.

17 This man has told lies about my daughter. He has said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin,' but here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin." Then her parents are to show the sheet to the city leaders,

18 and the leaders must take the man and punish him.

19 They must make him pay about two and one-half pounds of silver to the girl's father, because the man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. The girl will continue to be the man's wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

20 But if the things the husband said about his wife are true, and there is no proof that she was a virgin,

21 the girl must be brought to the door of her father's house. Then the men of the town must put her to death by throwing stones at her. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations before she was married. You must get rid of the evil among you.

22 If a man is found having sexual relations with another man's wife, both the woman and the man who had sexual relations with her must die. Get rid of this evil from Israel.

23 If a man meets a virgin in a city and has sexual relations with her, but she is engaged to another man,

24 you must take both of them to the city gate and put them to death by throwing stones at them. Kill the girl, because she was in a city and did not scream for help. And kill the man for having sexual relations with another man's wife. You must get rid of the evil among you.

25 But if a man meets an engaged girl out in the country and forces her to have sexual relations with him, only the man who had sexual relations with her must be put to death.

26 Don't do anything to the girl, because she has not done a sin worthy of death. This is like the person who attacks and murders a neighbor;

27 the man found the engaged girl in the country and she screamed, but no one was there to save her.

28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged to be married and forces her to have sexual relations with him and people find out about it,

29 the man must pay the girl's father about one and one-fourth pounds of silver. He must also marry the girl, because he has dishonored her, and he may never divorce her for as long as he lives.

30 A man must not marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father in this way.

1 No man who has had part of his sex organ cut off may come into the meeting to worship the Lord.

2 No one born to parents who were forbidden by law to marry may come into the meeting to worship the Lord. The descendants for ten generations may not come in either.

3 No Ammonite or Moabite may come into the meeting to worship the Lord, and none of their descendants for ten generations may come in.

4 This is because the Ammonites and Moabites did not give you bread and water when you came out of Egypt. And they hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor in Northwest Mesopotamia, to put a curse on you

5 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam. He turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.

6 Don't wish for their peace or success as long as you live.

7 Don't hate Edomites; they are your close relatives. Don't hate Egyptians, because you were foreigners in their country.

8 The great-grandchildren of these two peoples may come into the meeting to worship the Lord.

9 When you are camped in time of war, keep away from unclean things.

10 If a man becomes unclean during the night, he must go outside the camp and not come back.

11 But when evening comes, he must wash himself, and at sunset he may come back into the camp.

12 Choose a place outside the camp where people may go to relieve themselves.

13 Carry a tent peg with you, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your dung.

14 The Lord your God moves around through your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies for you, so the camp must be holy. He must not see anything unclean among you so that he will not leave you

15 If an escaped slave comes to you, do not hand over the slave to his master.

16 Let the slave live with you anywhere he likes, in any town he chooses. Do not mistreat him.

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

18 Do not bring a male or female prostitute's pay to the Temple of the Lord your God to pay what you have promised to the Lord, because the Lord your God hates prostitution.

19 If you loan your fellow Israelites money or food or anything else, don't make them pay back more than you loaned them

20 You may charge foreigners, but not fellow Israelites. Then the Lord your God will bless everything you do in the land you are entering to take as your own.

21 If you make a promise to give something to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, because the Lord your God demands it from you. Do not be guilty of sin

22 But if you do not make the promise, you will not be guilty.

23 You must do whatever you say you will do, because you chose to make the promise to the Lord your God.

24 If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you wish, but do not put any grapes into your basket.

25 If you go into your neighbor's grainfield, you may pick grain with your hands, but you must not cut down your neighbor's grain with your sickle.

1 A man might marry a woman but later decide she doesn't please him because he has found something bad about her. He writes out divorce papers for her, gives them to her, and sends her away from his house.

2 After she leaves his house, she goes and marries another man,

3 but her second husband does not like her either. So he writes out divorce papers for her, gives them to her, and sends her away from his house. Or the second husband might die.

4 In either case, her first husband who divorced her must not marry her again, because she has become unclean. The Lord would hate this. Don't bring this sin into the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.

5 A man who has just married must not be sent to war or be given any other duty. He should be free to stay home for a year to make his new wife happy.

6 If someone owes you something, do not take his two stones for grinding grain -- not even the upper one -- in place of what he owes, because this is how the person makes a living.

7 If someone kidnaps a fellow Israelite, either to make him a slave or sell him, the kidnapper must be killed. You must get rid of the evil among you.

8 Be careful when someone has a skin disease. Do exactly what the priests, the Levites, teach you, being careful to do what I have commanded them.

9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.

10 When you make a loan to your neighbors, don't go into their homes to get something in place of it.

11 Stay outside and let them go in and get what they promised you.

12 If a poor person gives you a coat to show he will pay the loan back, don't keep it overnight.

13 Give the coat back at sunset, because your neighbor needs that coat to sleep in, and he will be grateful to you. And the Lord your God will see that you have done a good thing.

14 Don't cheat hired servants who are poor and needy, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns.

15 Pay them each day before sunset, because they are poor and need the money. Otherwise,they may complain to the Lord about you, and you will be guilty of sin.

16 Parents must not be put to death if their children do wrong, and children must not be put to death if their parents do wrong. Each person must die for his own sin.

17 Do not be unfair to a foreigner or an orphan. Don't take a widow's coat to make sure she pays you back.

18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God saved you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

19 When you are gathering your harvest in the field and leave behind a bundle of grain, don't go back and get it. Leave it there for foreigners, orphans, and widows so that the Lord your God can bless everything you do.

20 When you beat your olive trees to knock the olives off, don't beat the trees a second time. Leave what is left for foreigners, orphans, and widows.

21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't pick the vines a second time. Leave what is left for foreigners, orphans, and widows.

22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; that is why I am commanding you to do this.

1 It was now only two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a trick to arrest Jesus and kill him.

2 But they said, "We must not do it during the feast, because the people might cause a riot."

3 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. While Jesus was eating there, a woman approached him with an alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She opened the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head.

4 Some who were there became upset and said to each other, "Why waste that perfume?

5 It was worth a full year's work. It could have been sold and the money given to the poor." And they got very angry with the woman.

6 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why are you troubling her? She did an excellent thing for me.

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

8 This woman did the only thing she could do for me; she poured perfume on my body to prepare me for burial.

9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached in all the world, what this woman has done will be told, and people will remember her."

10 One of the twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot, went to talk to the leading priests to offer to hand Jesus over to them.

11 These priests were pleased about this and promised to pay Judas money. So he watched for the best time to turn Jesus in.

12 It was now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb was sacrificed. Jesus' followers said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?"

13 Jesus sent two of his followers and said to them, "Go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

14 When he goes into a house, tell the owner of the house, 'The Teacher says: Where is my guest room in which I can eat the Passover meal with my followers?'

15 The owner will show you a large room upstairs that is furnished and ready. Prepare the food for us there."

16 So the followers left and went into the city. Everything happened as Jesus had said, so they prepared the Passover meal.

17 In the evening, Jesus went to that house with the twelve.

18 While they were all eating, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will turn against me -- one of you eating with me now."

19 The followers were very sad to hear this. Each one began to say to Jesus, "I am not the one, am I?"

20 Jesus answered, "It is one of the twelve -- the one who dips his bread into the bowl with me.

21 The Son of Man will die, just as the Scriptures say. But how terrible it will be for the person who hands the Son of Man over to be killed. It would be better for him if he had never been born."

22 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it. Then he gave it to his followers and said, "Take it; this is my body."

23 Then Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to the followers, and they all drank from the cup.

24 Then Jesus said, "This is my blood which is the new agreement that God makes with his people. This blood is poured out for many.

25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink of this fruit of the vinen again until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

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