Deuteronomy 30; Deuteronomy 31; Mark 15:1-25

Deuteronomy 30

1 Now, once all these things happen to you, the blessing and the curse that I'm setting before you, you must call them to mind as you sit among the various nations where the LORD your God has driven you;

2 and you must return to the LORD your God, obeying his voice, in line with all that I'm commanding you right now—you and your children—with all your mind and with all your being.

3 Then the LORD your God will restore you as you were before and will have compassion on you, gathering you up from all the peoples where the LORD your God scattered you.

4 Even if he has driven you to the far end of heaven, the LORD your God will gather you up from there; he will take you back from there.

5 The LORD your God will bring you home to the land that your ancestors possessed; you will possess it again. And he will do good things for you and multiply you—making you more numerous even than your ancestors!

6 Then the LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you love the LORD your God with all your mind and with all your being in order that you may live.

7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and chase you.

8 But you will change and obey the LORD's voice and do all his commandments that I'm commanding you right now.

9 The LORD your God will help you succeed in everything you do—in your own fertility, your livestock's offspring, and your land's produce—everything will be great! Because the LORD will once again enjoy doing good things for you just as he enjoyed doing them for your ancestors,

10 and because you will be obeying the LORD your God's voice, keeping his commandments and his regulations that are written in this Instruction scroll, and because you will have returned to the LORD your God with all your heart and all your being.

11 This commandment that I'm giving you right now is definitely not too difficult for you. It isn't unreachable.

12 It isn't up in heaven somewhere so that you have to ask, "Who will go up for us to heaven and get it for us that we can hear it and do it?"

13 Nor is it across the ocean somewhere so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the ocean for us and get it for us that we can hear it and do it?"

14 Not at all! The word is very close to you. It's in your mouth and in your heart, waiting for you to do it.

15 Look here! Today I've set before you life and what's good versus death and what's wrong.

16 If you obey the LORD your God's commandments that I'm commanding you right now by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments, his regulations, and his case laws, then you will live and thrive, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and serving them,

18 I'm telling you right now that you will definitely die. You will not prolong your life on the fertile land that you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live—

20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That's how you will survive and live long on the fertile land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 31

1 Then Moses said these words to all Israel,

2 telling them: I'm 120 years old today. I can't move around well anymore. Plus, the LORD told me "You won't cross the Jordan River."

3 But the LORD your God, he's the one who will cross over before you! He's the one who will destroy these nations before you so you can displace them. Joshua too will cross over before you just like the LORD indicated.

4 The LORD will do to these enemies the same thing he did to the Amorite kings Sihon and Og, and to their land, when he destroyed them.

5 The LORD will lay them out before you, and you will do to them exactly what the command I've given you dictates.

6 Be strong! Be fearless! Don't be afraid and don't be scared by your enemies, because the LORD your God is the one who marches with you. He won't let you down, and he won't abandon you.

7 Then Moses called Joshua and, with all Israel watching, said to him: "Be strong and fearless because you are the one who will lead this people to the land the LORD swore to their ancestors to give to them; you are the one who will divide up the land for them.

8 But the LORD is the one who is marching before you! He is the one who will be with you! He won't let you down. He won't abandon you. So don't be afraid or scared!"

9 Then Moses wrote this Instruction down and gave it to the priests—the Levites who carry the chest containing the LORD's covenant—and to all of the Israelite elders.

10 Moses then commanded them: At the end of seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation, during the Festival of Booths,

11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the location he selects, you must read this Instruction aloud, in the hearing of all the people.

12 Gather everyone—men, women, children, and the immigrants who live in your cities—in order that they hear it, learn it, and revere the LORD your God, carefully doing all the words of this Instruction,

13 and so that their children, who don't yet know the Instruction, may hear it and learn to revere the LORD your God for as long as you live on the ground you are crossing the Jordan River to possess.

14 Then the LORD said to Moses: "It's almost time for you to die. Summon Joshua. The two of you must present yourselves at the meeting tent so I can command him." So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the meeting tent.

15 The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; the cloud pillar stood at the tent's entrance.

16 The LORD then said to Moses: "Soon you will rest with your ancestors, and the people will rise up and act unfaithfully, going after strange gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon me, breaking my covenant that I made with them.

17 At that point my anger will burn against them, and I'll be the one who abandons them! I'll hide my face from them. They will become nothing but food for their enemies, and all sorts of bad things and misfortunes will happen to them. Then they will say: ‘Haven't these terrible things happened to us because our God is no longer with us?'

18 But I will hide my face at that time because of the many wrong things they have done, because they have turned to other gods!

19 So in light of all that, you must write down this poem and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths so that the poem becomes a witness for me against them.

20 When I bring the Israelites to the land I swore to their ancestors, which is full of milk and honey, and they eat, get full, then fat, and then turn toward other gods, serving them and disrespecting me and breaking my covenant,

21 then, when all kinds of bad things and misfortunes happen to them, this poem will witness against them, giving its testimony, because it won't be lost from the mouths of their descendants. Yes, I know right now what they are inclined to do, even before I've brought them into the land I swore."

22 So Moses wrote this poem down that very day, and he taught it to the Israelites.

23 Then the Lord commissioned Joshua, Nun's son: "Be strong and fearless because you are the one who will bring the Israelites to the land I swore to them. I myself will be with you."

24 Once Moses had finished writing in their entirety all the words of this Instruction scroll,

25 he commanded the Levites who carry the chest containing the LORD's covenant as follows:

26 "Take this Instruction scroll and put it next to the chest containing the LORD your God's covenant. It must remain there as a witness against you

27 because I know how rebellious and hardheaded you are. If you are this rebellious toward the LORD while I'm still alive, it's bound to get worse once I'm dead!

28 Assemble all of your tribes' elders and your officials in front of me, so I can speak these words in their hearing, and so I can call heaven and earth as my witnesses against them,

29 because I know that after I'm dead, you will ruin everything, departing from the path I've commanded you. Terrible things will happen to you in the future because you will do evil in the LORD's eyes, aggravating him with the things your hands have made."

30 Then Moses recited in their entirety the words of this poem in the hearing of the entire assembly of Israel:

Mark 15:1-25

1 At daybreak, the chief priests—with the elders, legal experts, and the whole Sanhedrin—formed a plan. They bound Jesus, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate.

2 Pilate questioned him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "That's what you say."

3 The chief priests were accusing him of many things.

4 Pilate asked him again, "Aren't you going to answer? What about all these accusations?"

5 But Jesus gave no more answers, so that Pilate marveled.

6 During the festival, Pilate released one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.

7 A man named Barabbas was locked up with the rebels who had committed murder during an uprising.

8 The crowd pushed forward and asked Pilate to release someone, as he regularly did.

9 Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?"

10 He knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of jealousy.

11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.

12 Pilate replied, "Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?"

13 They shouted back, "Crucify him!"

14 Pilate said to them, "Why? What wrong has he done?" They shouted even louder, "Crucify him!"

15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the courtyard of the palace known as the governor's headquarters, and they called together the whole company of soldiers.

17 They dressed him up in a purple robe and twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on him.

18 They saluted him, "Hey! King of the Jews!"

19 Again and again, they struck his head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt before him to honor him.

20 When they finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

21 Simon, a man from Cyrene, Alexander and Rufus' father, was coming in from the countryside. They forced him to carry his cross.

22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place.

23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he didn't take it.

24 They crucified him. They divided up his clothes, drawing lots for them to determine who would take what.

25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.