Deuteronomy 7; Deuteronomy 8; Deuteronomy 9; Mark 11:19-33

1 "The Lord your God will bring you into the land that you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

2 When the Lord your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy.

3 Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them,

4 because then they would lead your children away from the Lord to worship other gods. If that happens, the Lord will be angry with you and destroy you at once.

5 So then, tear down their altars, break their sacred stone pillars in pieces, cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols.

6 Do this because you belong to the Lord your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

7 "The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

8 But the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

9 Remember that the Lord your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands,

10 but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him.

11 Now then, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.

12 "If you listen to these commands and obey them faithfully, then the Lord your God will continue to keep his covenant with you and will show you his constant love, as he promised your ancestors.

13 He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children; he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil; and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you.

14 No people in the world will be as richly blessed as you. None of you nor any of your livestock will be sterile.

15 The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and he will not bring on you any of the dreadful diseases that you experienced in Egypt, but he will bring them on all your enemies.

16 Destroy every nation that the Lord your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.

17 "Do not tell yourselves that these peoples outnumber you and that you cannot drive them out.

18 Do not be afraid of them; remember what the Lord your God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people.

19 Remember the terrible plagues that you saw with your own eyes, the miracles and wonders, and the great power and strength by which the Lord your God set you free. In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians, he will destroy all these people that you now fear.

20 He will even cause panic among them and will destroy those who escape and go into hiding.

21 So do not be afraid of these people. The Lord your God is with you; he is a great God and one to be feared.

22 Little by little he will drive out these nations as you advance. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, for, if you did, the number of wild animals would increase and be a threat to you.

23 The Lord will put your enemies in your power and make them panic until they are destroyed.

24 He will put their kings in your power. You will kill them, and they will be forgotten. No one will be able to stop you; you will destroy everyone.

25 Burn their idols. Do not desire the silver or gold that is on them, and do not take it for yourselves. If you do, that will be fatal, because the Lord hates idolatry.

26 Do not bring any of these idols into your homes, or the same curse will be on you that is on them. You must hate and despise these idols, because they are under the Lord's curse.

1 "Obey faithfully all the laws that I have given you today, so that you may live, increase in number, and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors.

2 Remember how the Lord your God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands.

3 He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that you must not depend on bread alone to sustain you, but on everything that the Lord says.

4 During these forty years your clothes have not worn out, nor have your feet swollen up.

5 Remember that the Lord your God corrects and punishes you just as parents discipline their children.

6 So then, do as the Lord has commanded you: live according to his laws and obey him.

7 The Lord your God is bringing you into a fertile land - a land that has rivers and springs, and underground streams gushing out into the valleys and hills;

8 a land that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey.

9 There you will never go hungry or ever be in need. Its rocks have iron in them, and from its hills you can mine copper.

10 You will have all you want to eat, and you will give thanks to the Lord your God for the fertile land that he has given you.

11 "Make certain that you do not forget the Lord your God; do not fail to obey any of his laws that I am giving you today.

12 When you have all you want to eat and have built good houses to live in

13 and when your cattle and sheep, your silver and gold, and all your other possessions have increased,

14 be sure that you do not become proud and forget the Lord your God who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

15 He led you through that vast and terrifying desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. In that dry and waterless land he made water flow out of solid rock for you.

16 In the desert he gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you, so that in the end he could bless you with good things.

17 So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength.

18 Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to become rich. He does this because he is still faithful today to the covenant that he made with your ancestors.

19 Never forget the Lord your God or turn to other gods to worship and serve them. If you do, then I warn you today that you will certainly be destroyed.

20 If you do not obey the Lord, then you will be destroyed just like those nations that he is going to destroy as you advance.

1 "Listen, people of Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River and occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you. Their cities are large, with walls that reach the sky.

2 The people themselves are tall and strong; they are giants, and you have heard it said that no one can stand against them.

3 But now you will see for yourselves that the Lord your God will go ahead of you like a raging fire. He will defeat them as you advance, so that you will drive them out and destroy them quickly, as he promised.

4 "After the Lord your God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, the Lord is going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked.

5 It is not because you are good and do what is right that the Lord is letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 You can be sure that the Lord is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people.

7 "Never forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him.

8 Even at Mount Sinai you made the Lord angry - angry enough to destroy you.

9 I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets on which was written the covenant that the Lord had made with you. I stayed there forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything.

10 Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain.

11 Yes, after those forty days and nights the Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written the covenant.

12 "Then the Lord said to me, "Go down the mountain at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt and have done evil. They have already turned away from what I commanded them to do, and they have made an idol for themselves.'

13 "The Lord also said to me, "I know how stubborn these people are.

14 Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.'

15 "So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets on which the covenant was written. Flames of fire were coming from the mountain.

16 I saw that you had already disobeyed the command that the Lord your God had given you, and that you had sinned against him by making yourselves a metal idol in the form of a bull-calf.

17 So there in front of you I threw the stone tablets down and broke them to pieces.

18 Then once again I lay face downward in the Lord's presence for forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. I did this because you had sinned against the Lord and had made him angry.

19 I was afraid of the Lord's fierce anger, because he was furious enough to destroy you; but once again the Lord listened to me.

20 The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to kill him, so I prayed for Aaron at the same time.

21 I took that sinful thing that you had made - that metal bull-calf - and threw it into the fire. Then I broke it in pieces, ground it to dust, and threw the dust into the stream that flowed down the mountain.

22 "You also made the Lord your God angry when you were at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah.

23 And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea with orders to go and take possession of the land that he was giving you, you rebelled against him; you did not trust him or obey him.

24 Ever since I have known you, you have rebelled against the Lord.

25 "So I lay face downward in the Lord's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you.

26 And I prayed, "Sovereign Lord, don't destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power.

27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people.

28 Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them.

29 After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.'

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples left the city.

20 Early next morning, as they walked along the road, they saw the fig tree. It was dead all the way down to its roots.

21 Peter remembered what had happened and said to Jesus, "Look, Teacher, the fig tree you cursed has died!"

22 Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.

23 I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

24 For this reason I tell you: When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.

25 And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done."

27 They arrived once again in Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders came to him

28 and asked him, "What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?"

29 Jesus answered them, "I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things.

30 Tell me, where did John's right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?"

31 They started to argue among themselves: "What shall we say? If we answer, "From God,' he will say, "Why, then, did you not believe John?'

32 But if we say, "From human beings . . .' " (They were afraid of the people, because everyone was convinced that John had been a prophet.)

33 So their answer to Jesus was, "We don't know." Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things."