Matthew 27:32-66; Deuteronomy 7; Deuteronomy 8; Job 7

Matthew 27:32-66

32 As they were going out, they found a Cyrenian man named Simon. They forced this man to carry His cross.

33 When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Skull Place),

34 they gave Him wine mixed with gall to drink. But when He tasted it, He would not drink it.

35 After crucifying Him they divided His clothes by casting lots.

36 Then they sat down and were guarding Him there.

37 Above His head they put up the charge against Him in writing: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS

38 Then two criminals were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.

39 Those who passed by were yelling insults at Him, shaking their heads

40 and saying, "The One who would demolish the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

41 In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked Him and said,

42 "He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.

43 He has put His trust in God; let God rescue Him now-if He wants Him! For He said, 'I am God's Son.' "

44 In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with Him kept taunting Him.

45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land.

46 At about three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, " Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni ?" that is, " My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? "

47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling for Elijah!"

48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, fixed it on a reed, and offered Him a drink.

49 But the rest said, "Let's see if Elijah comes to save Him!"

50 Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.

51 Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split.

52 The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had gone to their rest were raised.

53 And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.

54 When the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, "This man really was God's Son!"

55 Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and ministered to Him were there, looking on from a distance.

56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

57 When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

58 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released.

59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen,

60 and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb.

61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb.

62 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

63 and said, "Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive, He said, 'After three days I will rise again.'

64 Therefore give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come, steal Him, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead.' Then the last deception will be worse than the first."

65 "You have a guard [of soldiers]," Pilate told them. "Go and make it as secure as you know how."

66 Then they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Deuteronomy 7

1 "When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out many nations before you-the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you-

2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

4 because they will turn your sons away from Me to worship other gods. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their standing pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn up their carved images.

6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

7 "The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.

10 But He directly pays back and destroys those who hate Him. He will not hesitate to directly pay back the one who hates Him.

11 So keep the command-the statutes and ordinances-that I am giving you to follow today.

12 "If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the Lord your God will keep His covenant loyalty with you, as He swore to your fathers.

13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your descendants, and the produce of your soil-your grain, new wine, and oil-the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you.

14 You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.

15 The Lord will remove all sickness from you; He will not put on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.

16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

17 "If you say to yourself, 'These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?'

18 do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

19 the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.

20 The Lord your God will also send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish.

21 Don't be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.

22 The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

23 The Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

25 You must burn up the carved images of their gods. Don't covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God.

26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

Deuteronomy 8

1 "You must carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to your fathers.

2 Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

3 He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

4 Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years.

5 Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

6 So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams of water, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

10 When you eat and are full, you will praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.

11 "Be careful that you don't forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His command-the ordinances and statutes-I am giving you today.

12 When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

13 and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

14 [be careful] that your heart doesn't become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

15 He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flintlike rock for you.

16 He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

17 You may say to yourself, 'My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,'

18 but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant He swore to your fathers, as it is today.

19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will perish.

20 Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.

Job 7

1 Isn't mankind consigned to forced labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

2 Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hired man he waits for his pay.

3 So I have been made to inherit months of futility, and troubled nights have been assigned to me.

4 When I lie down I think: When will I get up? But the evening drags on endlessly, and I toss and turn until dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt. My skin forms scabs and then oozes.

6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

7 Remember that my life is [but] a breath. My eye will never again see anything good.

8 The eye of anyone who looks on me will no longer see me. Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes, so the one who goes down to Sheol will never rise again.

10 He will never return to his house; his hometown will no longer remember him.

11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea or a sea monster, that You keep me under guard?

13 When I say: My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint,

14 then You frighten me with dreams, and terrify me with visions,

15 so that I prefer strangling, death rather than life in this body.

16 I give up! I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

17 What is man, that You think so highly of him and pay so much attention to him?

18 You inspect him every morning, and put him to the test every moment.

19 Will You ever look away from me, or leave me alone until I swallow my saliva?

20 [If] I have sinned, what have I done to You, Watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I have become a burden to You?

21 Why not forgive my sin and pardon my transgression? For soon I will lie down in the grave. You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.