Deuteronomy 10; Deuteronomy 11; Deuteronomy 12; Mark 12:1-27

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.

Deuteronomy 11

1 "Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.

2 You must understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of the Lord your God: His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;

3 His signs and the works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;

4 what He did to Egypt's army, its horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and He destroyed them completely;

5 what He did to you in the wilderness until you reached this place;

6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite [camp] the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.

7 Your [own] eyes have seen every great work the Lord has done.

8 "Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

9 and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as in a vegetable garden.

11 But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky.

12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for. He is always watching over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

13 "If you carefully obey My commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul,

14 I will provide rain for your land in season, the early and late rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and oil.

15 I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied.

16 Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, worship, and bow down to other gods.

17 Then the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will close the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land the Lord is giving you.

18 "Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and souls, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.

19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers.

22 For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow-to love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, and remain faithful to Him-

23 the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.

24 Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

25 No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as He has promised you.

26 "Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:

27 [there will be] a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today,

28 and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God, and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.

29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

30 Aren't these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?

31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you possess it and settle in it,

32 be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances I set before you today.

Deuteronomy 12

1 "Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth.

2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are driving out worship their gods-on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every flourishing tree.

3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

4 Don't worship the Lord your God this way.

5 Instead, you must go to the place the Lord your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling.

6 You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

7 You will eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your household in everything you do, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 "You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone [is doing] whatever seems right in his own eyes.

9 Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.

10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security,

11 then the Lord your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

12 You will rejoice before the Lord your God-you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the [sacred] places you see.

14 You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.

15 "But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you. Those who are clean or unclean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer,

16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

17 Within your gates you may not eat: the tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions.

18 You must eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God chooses-you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you do,

19 and be careful not to neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land.

20 "When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, 'I want to eat meat' because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want.

21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.

22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it.

23 But don't eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

24 Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water.

25 Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

26 "But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place the Lord chooses.

27 Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your [other] sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat.

28 Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

29 "When the Lord your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land,

30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, 'How did these nations worship their gods? I'll also do the same.'

31 You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice for their gods every detestable thing the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 You must be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.

Mark 12:1-27

1 Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away.

2 At harvest time he sent a slave to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from the farmers.

3 But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

4 Again he sent another slave to them, and they hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.

5 Then he sent another, and they killed that one. [He] also [sent] many others; they beat some and they killed some.

6 "He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

7 "But those tenant farmers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!'

8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 "Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers and give the vineyard to others.

10 Haven't you read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

11 This came from the Lord and is wonderful in our eyes ?"

12 Because they knew He had said this parable against them, they were looking for a way to arrest Him, but they were afraid of the crowd. So they left Him and went away.

13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Him to trap Him by what He said.

14 When they came, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know You are truthful and defer to no one, for You don't show partiality but teach truthfully the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

15 Should we pay, or should we not pay?" But knowing their hypocrisy, He said to them, "Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at."

16 So they brought one. "Whose image and inscription is this?" He asked them. "Caesar's," they said.

17 Then Jesus told them, "Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at Him.

18 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and questioned Him:

19 "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies , leaves his wife behind, and leaves no child, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.

20 There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying, left no offspring.

21 The second also took her, and he died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.

22 The seven also left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died too.

23 In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be, since the seven had married her?"

24 Jesus told them, "Are you not deceived because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God?

25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.

26 Now concerning the dead being raised-haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob ?

27 He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are badly deceived."