Deuteronomy 16; Deuteronomy 17; Deuteronomy 18; Mark 13:1-20

1 Celebrate the Passover Feast of the LORD your God in the month of Abib. In that month he brought you out of Egypt at night.

2 Sacrifice an animal from your flock or herd. It is the Passover sacrifice in honor of the LORD your God. Sacrifice it at the special place the LORD will choose. He will put his Name there.

3 Don't eat the animal along with bread that is made with yeast. Instead, for seven days eat bread that is made without yeast. It's the bread that reminds you of how much you suffered. Remember that you left Egypt in a hurry. Remember it all the days of your life. Don't forget the day you left Egypt.

4 Don't keep any yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. Don't let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day be left over until the next morning.

5 You must not sacrifice the Passover animal in any town the LORD your God is giving you.

6 Sacrifice it only in the special place he will choose for his Name. Sacrifice it there in the evening when the sun goes down. Do it on the same day every year. Be sure it's the day you left Egypt.

7 Cook it and eat it. Do it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents.

8 For six days eat bread that is made without yeast. On the seventh day come together for a service in honor of the LORD your God. Don't do any work.

9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to cut your grain in the field.

10 Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks in honor of the LORD your God. Give anything you choose to give as an offering. Do it in keeping with the blessings the LORD has given you.

11 Be filled with joy in the sight of the LORD your God. Be joyful at the special place he will choose for his Name. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites who are living in your towns. So should the outsiders and widows who are living among you. And so should the children whose fathers have died.

12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Be careful to obey the rules I'm giving you.

13 Gather the grain from your threshing floors. Take the fresh wine from your winepresses. Then celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days.

14 Be filled with joy at your Feast. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites, the outsiders, and the widows who are living in your towns. And so should the children whose fathers have died.

15 For seven days celebrate the Feast in honor of the LORD your God. Do it at the place he will choose. The LORD will bless you when you gather all of your crops. He'll bless you in everything you do. And you will be full of joy.

16 All of your men must appear in front of the LORD your God at the holy tent. They must go to the place he will choose. They must do it three times a year. They must go there to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths. No man should appear in front of the LORD without bringing something with him.

17 Each of you must bring a gift. Do it in keeping with the way the LORD your God has blessed you.

18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes. Do it in every town the LORD your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly.

19 Do what is right. Treat everyone the same. Don't take money from people who want special favors. It makes those who are wise close their eyes to the truth. It twists the words of those who do what is right.

20 Follow only what is right. If you do, you will live. You will take over the land the LORD your God is giving you.

21 Don't set up a wooden pole that is used to worship the goddess Asherah. Don't set it up beside the altar you build to worship the LORD your God.

22 Don't set up a sacred stone to honor another god. The LORD your God hates Asherah poles and sacred stones.

1 Suppose an ox or sheep has anything at all wrong with it. Then don't sacrifice it to the LORD your God. He hates it.

2 Someone who is living among you might do what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God. It might happen in one of the towns the LORD is giving you. That person is breaking the LORD's covenant.

3 The person might have worshiped or bowed down to other gods. That person might have bowed down to the sun or moon or stars in the sky. I have commanded you not to do those things.

4 When you hear that people have done something like that, check the matter out carefully. If it's true, an evil thing has been done in Israel. It's something the LORD hates.

5 So take the person who has done that evil thing to your city gate. Put that person to death with stones.

6 The witness of two or three people is required to put someone to death. No one can be put to death because of what only one witness says. It needs the witness of two or three people.

7 The witnesses must throw the first stones. Then the rest of the people must also throw stones. Get rid of that evil person.

8 People will bring their cases to your courts. But some cases will be too hard for you to judge. They might be about murders, attacks or other crimes. Then take those hard cases to the place the LORD your God will choose.

9 Go to a priest, who is a Levite. And go to the judge who is in office at that time. Ask them for their decision. They will give it to you.

10 They'll hand down their decisions at the place the LORD will choose. You must do what they decide. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do.

11 Act in keeping with the laws they teach you. Accept the decisions they give you. Don't turn away from what they tell you. Don't turn to the right or the left.

12 Someone might make fun of the judge. Or he might make fun of the priest who serves the LORD your God at the place he will choose. If the man does that, he must be put to death. Remove that evil person from Israel.

13 All of the people of Israel will hear about it. And they will be afraid to make fun of a judge or priest again.

14 You will enter the land the LORD your God is giving you. You will take it as your own. You will settle down in it. When you do, you will say, "Let's appoint a king over us, just like all of the nations around us."

15 When that happens, make sure you appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own people. Don't appoint over you someone from another country. Don't choose anyone who isn't from one of the tribes of Israel.

16 The king must not get large numbers of horses for himself. He must not make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The LORD has told you, "You must not go back there again."

17 The king must not have a lot of wives. If he does, he will be led down the wrong path. He must not store up large amounts of silver and gold.

18 When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must make himself a copy of the law I'm teaching you. He must write it on a scroll. He must copy it from the scroll of a priest, who is a Levite.

19 The king must keep the scroll close to him at all times. He must read it all the days of his life. Then he can learn to have respect for the LORD his God. He can carefully follow all of the words of that law and those rules.

20 He won't think of himself as being better than his people are. He won't turn away from the law. He won't turn to the right or the left. Then he and his sons after him will rule over his kingdom in Israel for a long time.

1 The priests, who are Levites, won't receive any part of the land of Israel. That also applies to the whole tribe of Levi. They will eat the offerings that are made to the LORD with fire. That will be their share.

2 They won't have any part of the land the LORD gave the other tribes in Israel. The LORD himself is their share, just as he promised them.

3 Anyone who sacrifices a bull or a sheep owes a share of it to the priests. Their share is the shoulder, jaws and inside parts.

4 You must give the priests the first share of the harvest of your grain, olive oil and fresh wine. You must also give them the first wool you clip from your sheep.

5 The LORD your God has chosen the Levites and their sons after them to serve him in his name always. He hasn't chosen priests from any of your other tribes.

6 Sometimes a Levite will move from the town in Israel where he's living. And he will come to the place the LORD will choose. He'll do it because he really wants to.

7 Then he can serve in the name of the LORD his God. He'll be like all of the other Levites who serve the LORD there.

8 He must have an equal share of the good things they have. That applies even if he has already received money by selling things his family owned.

9 You will enter the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you do, don't copy the practices of the nations that are there. The LORD hates those practices.

10 Here are things you must not do. Don't sacrifice your children in the fire to other gods. Don't practice any kind of evil magic at all. Don't use magic to try to explain the meaning of warnings in the sky or of any other signs. Don't take part in worshiping evil powers.

11 Don't put a spell on anyone. Don't get messages from those who have died. Don't talk to the spirits of the dead. Don't get advice from the dead.

12 The LORD your God hates it when anyone does those things. The nations that are in the land he's giving you practice the things he hates. So he will drive out those nations to make room for you.

13 You must be without blame in the sight of the LORD your God.

14 You will take over the nations that are in the land the LORD is giving you. They listen to those who practice all kinds of evil magic. But you belong to the LORD your God. He says you must not do those things.

15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people. You must listen to him.

16 At Mount Horeb you asked the LORD your God for a prophet. You asked him on the day you gathered together. You said, "We don't want to hear the voice of the LORD our God. We don't want to see this great fire anymore. If we do, we'll die."

17 The LORD said to me, "What they are saying is good.

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you. He will be one of their own people. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him to say.

19 "The prophet will speak in my name. But someone might not listen to what I say through the prophet. Then that person will be accountable to me.

20 "But suppose a prophet dares to speak in my name something I have not commanded him to say. Or he speaks in the name of other gods. Then that prophet must be put to death."

21 You will say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message hasn't been spoken by the Lord?"

22 Sometimes a prophet will announce something in the name of the Lord. And it won't take place or come true. Then that's a message the LORD hasn't told him to speak. That prophet has dared to speak on his own authority. So don't be afraid of him or what he says.

1 Jesus was leaving the temple. One of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What huge stones! What wonderful buildings!"

2 "Do you see these huge buildings?" Jesus asked. "Not one stone here will be left on top of another. Every stone will be thrown down."

3 Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, across from the temple. Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him a question in private.

4 "Tell us," they said. "When will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to come true?"

5 Jesus said to them, "Keep watch! Be careful that no one fools you.

6 Many will come in my name. They will claim, 'I am he.' They will fool many people.

7 "You will hear about wars. You will also hear people talking about future wars. Don't be alarmed. Those things must happen. But the end still isn't here.

8 Nation will fight against nation. Kingdom will fight against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many places. People will go hungry. All of those things are the beginning of birth pains.

9 "Watch out! You will be handed over to the local courts. You will be whipped in the synagogues. You will stand in front of governors and kings because of me. In that way you will be witnesses to them.

10 The good news has to be preached to all nations before the end comes.

11 You will be arrested and brought to trial. But don't worry ahead of time about what you will say. Just say what God brings to your mind at the time. It is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

12 "Brothers will hand over brothers to be killed. Fathers will hand over their children. Children will rise up against their parents and have them put to death.

13 Everyone will hate you because of me. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

14 "You will see 'the hated thing that destroys.'(Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) It will stand where it does not belong. The reader should understand this. Then those who are in Judea should escape to the mountains.

15 No one on the roof should go down into his house to take anything out.

16 No one in the field should go back to get his coat.

17 How awful it will be in those days for pregnant women! How awful for nursing mothers!

18 Pray that this will not happen in winter.

19 "Those days will be worse than any others from the time God created the world until now. And there will never be any like them again.

20 If the Lord had not cut the time short, no one would live. But because of God's chosen people, he has shortened it.