Matthew 28; Deuteronomy 9; Deuteronomy 10; Job 8

Matthew 28

1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.

2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached [the tomb]. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow.

4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men.

5 But the angel told the women, "Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.

7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.' Listen, I have told you."

8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news.

9 Just then Jesus met them and said, "Good morning!" They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him.

10 Then Jesus told them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there."

11 As they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.

12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money

13 and told them, "Say this, 'His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping.'

14 If this reaches the governor's ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble."

15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.

16 The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.

17 When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted.

18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Deuteronomy 9

1 "Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go and drive out nations greater and stronger than you [with] large cities fortified to the heavens.

2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them and you have heard it said about them, 'Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?'

3 But understand that today the Lord your God will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the Lord has told you.

4 When the Lord your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, 'The Lord brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

7 "Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

8 You provoked the Lord at Horeb, and He was angry enough with you to destroy you.

9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water.

10 On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God's finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

11 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights.

12 "The Lord said to me, 'Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.'

13 The Lord also said to me, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

14 Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.'

15 "So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

16 I saw how you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord had commanded for you.

17 So I took hold of the tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down like the first time in the presence of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights; I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord's sight and provoking Him to anger.

19 I was afraid of the fierce anger the Lord had directed against you, because He was about to destroy you. But again, the Lord listened to me on that occasion.

20 The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also.

21 I took the sinful calf you had made, burned it up, and crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as [fine as] dust. Then I threw it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

22 "You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

23 When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, He said, 'Go up and possess the land I have given you'; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not believe or obey Him.

24 You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have known you.

25 "I fell down in the presence of the Lord 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you.

26 I prayed to the Lord: Lord God , do not annihilate Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people's stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.

28 Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, 'Because the Lord wasn't able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.'

29 But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.

Deuteronomy 10

1 "The Lord said to me at that time, 'Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.

2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.'

3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

4 Then, on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me,

5 and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me."

6 The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.

7 They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.

8 "At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord's covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve Him, and to bless in His name, as it is today.

9 For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.

10 "I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion; He agreed not to annihilate you.

11 Then the Lord said to me, 'Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.'

12 "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?

13 Keep the Lord's commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

14 The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

15 Yet the Lord was devoted to your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them-[He chose] you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don't be stiff-necked any longer.

17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreign resident, giving him food and clothing.

19 You also must love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20 You are to fear the Lord your God and worship Him. Remain faithful to Him and take oaths in His name.

21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome works your eyes have seen.

22 Your fathers went down to Egypt, 70 people in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Job 8

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 How long will you go on saying these things? Your words are a blast of wind.

3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

4 Since your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion.

5 But if you earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,

6 if you are pure and upright, then He will move even now on your behalf and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.

7 Then, even if your beginnings were modest, your final days will be full of prosperity.

8 For ask the previous generation, and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,

9 since we were [born only] yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are but a shadow.

10 Will they not teach you and tell you and speak from their understanding?

11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

12 While still uncut shoots, they would dry up quicker than any [other] plant.

13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless will perish.

14 His source of confidence is fragile; what he trusts in is a spider's web.

15 He leans on his web, but it doesn't stand firm. He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

16 He is an amply watered plant in the sunshine; his shoots spread out over his garden.

17 His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks. He looks for a home among the stones.

18 If he is uprooted from his place, it will deny [knowing] him, saying, "I never saw you."

19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life; yet others will sprout from the dust.

20 Look, God does not reject a person of integrity, and He will not support evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy.

22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame; the tent of the wicked will exist no longer.