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

Deuteronomy 10

1 At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an ark of wood,

2 And I will write on the tables the words that were in them, which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

3 And I made an ark of setim wood. And when I had hewn two tables of stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my hands.

4 And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled: and he gave them to me.

5 And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the tables into the ark, that I had made, and they are there till this present, as the Lord commanded me.

6 And the children of Israel removed their camp from Beroth, of the children of Jacan into Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priestly office.

7 From thence they came to Gadgad, from which place they departed, and camped in Jetebatha, in a land of waters and torrents.

8 At that time he separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before him in the ministry, and to bless in his name until this present day.

9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord thy God promised him.

10 And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and the Lord heard me this time also, and would not destroy thee.

11 And he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter, and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would give them.

12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:

13 And keep the commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee?

14 Behold heaven is the Lord’s thy God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth and all things that are therein.

15 And yet the Lord hath been closely joined to thy fathers, and loved them and chose their seed after them, that is to say, you, out of all nations, as this day it is proved.

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.

17 Because the Lord your God he is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, a great God and mighty and terrible, who accepteth no person nor taketh bribes.

18 He doth judgment to the fatherless and the widow, loveth the stranger, and giveth him food and raiment.

19 And do you therefore love strangers, because you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him only: to him thou shalt adhere, and shalt swear by his name.

21 He is thy praise, and thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thy eyes have seen.

22 In seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt: and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.

Deuteronomy 11

1 Therefore love the Lord thy God and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments at all times.

2 Know this day the things that your children know not, who saw not the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great doings and strong hand, and stretched out arm,

3 The signs and works which he did in the midst of Egypt to king Pharao, and to all his land,

4 And to all the host of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them, when they pursued you, and how the Lord destroyed them until this present day:

5 And what he hath done to you in the wilderness, till you came to this place:

6 And to Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, who was the son of Ruben: whom the earth, opening her mouth swallowed up with their households and tents, and all their substance, which they had in the midst of Israel.

7 Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, that he hath done,

8 That you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this day, and may go in, and possess the land, to which you are entering,

9 And may live in it a long time: which the Lord promised by oath to your fathers, and to their seed, a land which floweth with milk and honey.

10 For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens.

11 But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven.

12 And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof.

13 If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul:

14 He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil,

15 And your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled.

16 Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them:

17 And the Lord being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you.

18 Lay up these words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes.

19 Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up.

20 Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house:

21 That thy days may be multiplied, and the days of thy children in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he would give them as long as the heaven hangeth over the earth.

22 For if you keep the commandments which I command you, and do them, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, cleaving unto him,

23 The Lord will destroy all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, which are greater and stronger than you.

24 Every place, that your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours. From the desert, and from Libanus, from the great river Euphrates unto the western sea shall be your borders.

25 None shall stand against you: the Lord your God shall lay the dread and fear of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he hath spoken to you.

26 Behold I set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a curse:

27 A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

28 A curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord your God, but revolt from the way which now I shew you, and walk after strange gods which you know not.

29 And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to dwell, thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Garizim, the curse upon mount Hebal:

30 Which are beyond the Jordan, behind the way that goeth to the setting of the sun, in the land of the Chanaanite who dwelleth in the plain country over against Galgala, which is near the valley that reacheth and entereth far.

31 For you shall pass over the Jordan, to possess the land, which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have it and possess it.

32 See therefore that you fulfil the ceremonies and judgments, which I shall set this day before you.

Deuteronomy 12

1 These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.

2 Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

3 Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places.

4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God:

5 But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it:

6 And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep.

7 And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.

8 You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself.

9 For until this present time you are not come to rest, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you.

10 You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear,

11 In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord.

12 There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you.

13 Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see:

14 But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices, and shalt do all that I command thee.

15 But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it:

16 Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.

17 Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands:

18 But thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and maidservant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand.

19 Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land.

20 When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth:

21 And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee.

22 Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike.

23 Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:

24 But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water,

25 That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

26 But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose:

27 And shalt offer thy oblations, the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat.

28 Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

29 When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which thou shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land:

30 Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship.

31 Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

32 What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.

Mark 12:1-27

1 And he began to speak to them in parables: A certain man planted a vineyard and made a hedge about it and dug a place for the winefat and built a tower and let it to husbandmen: and went into a far country.

2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant to receive of the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

3 Who, having laid hands on him, beat and sent him away empty.

4 And again he sent to them another servant: and him they wounded in the head and used him reproachfully.

5 And again he sent another, and him they killed: and many others, of whom some they beat, and others they killed.

6 Therefore, having yet one son, most dear to him, he also sent him unto them last of all, saying: They will reverence my son.

7 But the husbandmen said one to another: This is the heir. Come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours.

8 And laying hold on him, they killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

9 What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those husbandmen and will give the vineyard to others.

10 And have you not read this scripture, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner:

11 By the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.

12 And they sought to lay hands on him: but they feared the people. For they knew that he spoke this parable to them. And leaving him, they went their way.

13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians: that they should catch him in his words.

14 Who coming, say to him: Master, we know that thou art a true speaker and carest not for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? Or shall we not give it?

15 Who knowing their wiliness, saith to them: Why tempt you me? Bring me a penny that I may see it.

16 And they brought it him. And he saith to them: Whose is this image and inscription? They say to him, Caesar’s.

17 And Jesus answering, said to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.

18 And there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection. And they asked him, saying:

19 Master, Moses wrote unto us that if any man’s brother die and leave his wife behind him and leave no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up seed to his brother.

20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife and died leaving no issue.

21 And the second took her and died: and neither did he leave any issue. And the third in like manner.

22 And the seven all took her in like manner and did not leave issue. Last of all the woman also died.

23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise again, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her to wife.

24 And Jesus answering, saith to them: Do ye not therefore err, because you know not the scriptures nor the power of God?

25 For when they shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but are as the angels in heaven.

26 And as concerning the dead that they rise again have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You therefore do greatly err.