Deuteronomy 13; Deuteronomy 14; Deuteronomy 15; Mark 12:28-44

Deuteronomy 13

1 If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith he hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder,

2 And that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let us go and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them:

3 Thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer: for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or not.

4 Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and hear his voice: him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave.

5 And that prophet or forger of dreams shall be slain: because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage: to make thee go out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

6 If thy brother the son of thy mother, or thy son, or daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy own soul, would persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go, and serve strange gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers,

7 Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one end of the earth to the other,

8 Consent not to him, hear him not, neither let thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him,

9 But thou shalt presently put him to death. Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people.

10 With stones shall he be stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage:

11 That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any thing like this.

12 If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:

13 Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not:

14 Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,

15 Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle.

16 And all the household goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the streets thereof, and shall burn them with the city itself, so as to consume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it shall be built no more.

17 And there shall nothing of that anathema stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy fathers,

18 When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

Deuteronomy 14

1 Be ye children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead;

2 Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and he chose thee to be his peculiar people of all nations that are upon the earth.

3 Eat not the things that are unclean.

4 These are the beasts that you shall eat, the ox, and the sheep, and the goat,

5 The hart and the roe, the buffle, the chamois, the pygarg, the wild goat, the camelopardalus.

6 Every beast that divideth the hoof in two parts, and cheweth the cud, you shall eat.

7 But of them that chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, you shall not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the cherogril: because they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, they shall be unclean to you.

8 The swine also, because it divideth the hoof, but cheweth not the cud, shall be unclean, their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

9 These shall you eat of all that abide in the waters: All that have fins and scales, you shall eat.

10 Such as are without fins and scales, you shall not eat, because they are unclean.

11 All birds that are clean you shall eat.

12 The unclean eat not: to wit, the eagle, and the grype, and the osprey,

13 The ringtail, and the vulture, and the kite according to their kind:

14 And all of the raven’s kind:

15 And the ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind:

16 The heron, and the swan, and the stork,

17 And the cormorant, the porphirion, and the night crow,

18 The bittern, and the charadrion, every one in their kind: the houp also and the bat.

19 Every thing that creepeth, and hath little wings, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten.

20 All that is clean, you shall eat.

21 But whatsoever is dead of itself, eat not thereof. Give it to the stranger, that is within thy gates, to eat, or sell it to him: because thou art the holy people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

22 Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that the earth bringeth forth,

23 And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, that his name may be called upon therein, the tithe of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, and the firstborn of thy herds and thy sheep: that thou mayst learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times.

24 But when the way and the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, are far off, and he hath blessed thee, and thou canst not carry all these things thither,

25 Thou shalt sell them all, and turn them into money, and shalt carry it in thy hand, and shalt go to the place which the Lord shall choose:

26 And thou shalt buy with the same money whatsoever pleaseth thee, either of the herds or of sheep, wine also and strong drink, and all that thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, and shalt feast, thou and thy house:

27 And the Levite that is within thy gates, beware thou forsake him not, because he hath no other part in thy possession.

28 The third year thou shalt separate another tithe of all things that grow to thee at that time, and shalt lay it up within thy gates.

29 And the Levite that hath no other part nor possession with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be filled: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands that thou shalt do.

Deuteronomy 15

1 In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission,

2 Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord.

3 Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again.

4 And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession.

5 Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised.

6 Thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee.

7 If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within thy gates of thy city in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand,

8 But shalt open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of.

9 Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin unto thee.

10 But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand.

11 There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation: therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land.

12 When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free:

13 And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

14 But shall give him for his way out of thy flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord thy God shall bless thee.

15 Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free, and therefore I now command thee this.

16 But if he say: I will not depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is well with thee:

17 Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt do in like manner to thy womanservant also.

18 Turn not away thy eyes from them when thou makest them free: because he hath served thee six years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works that thou dost.

19 Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not shear the firstlings of thy sheep.

20 In the sight of the Lord thy God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, thou and thy house.

21 But if it have a blemish, or be lame, or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be sacrificed to the Lord thy God.

22 But thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as the roe and as the hart.

23 Only thou shalt take heed not to eat their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.

Mark 12:28-44

28 And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all.

29 And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

32 And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth that there is one God and there is no other besides him.

33 And that he should be loved with the whole heart and with the whole understanding and with the whole soul and with the whole strength. And to love one’s neighbour as one’s self is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.

34 And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

35 And Jesus answering, said, teaching in the temple: How do the scribes say that Christ is the son of David?

36 For David himself saith by the Holy Ghost: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool.

37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord. And whence is he then his son? And a great multitude heard him gladly.

38 And he said to them in his doctrine: Beware of the scribes, who love to walk in long robes and to be saluted in the marketplace,

39 And to sit in the first chairs in the synagogues and to have the highest places at suppers:

40 Who devour the houses of widows under the pretence of long prayer. These shall receive greater judgment.

41 And Jesus sitting over against the treasury, beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much.

42 And there came a certain poor widow: and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing.

43 And calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Amen I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury.

44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want cast in all she had, even her whole living.