The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. ² And on the day ^(A)you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. ^3 (B)And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(C)a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, ^(D)on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. ⁵ And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. ^(E)You shall wield no iron tool on them; ⁶ you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut^[a] stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, ⁷ and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and ^(F)shall eat there, and you ^(G)shall rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸ And ^(H)you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Curses from Mount Ebal

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: ^(I)this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

¹¹ That day Moses charged the people, saying, ¹² “When you have crossed over the Jordan, ^(J)these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ And ^(K)the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

^15 (L)“‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ ^(M)And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

^16 (N)“‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^17 (O)“‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^18 (P)“‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^19 (Q)“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^20 (R)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has ^(S)uncovered his father's nakedness.’^[b] And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^21 (T)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^22 (U)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^23 (V)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^24 (W)“‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^25 (X)“‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^26 (Y)“‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(Z)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(AA)high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(AB)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(AC)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be ^(AD)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(AE)kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be ^(AF)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(AG)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord ^(AH)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(AI)in all that you undertake. ^(AJ)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (AK)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And ^(AL)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(AM)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(AN)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(AO)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(AP)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(AQ)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(AR)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(AS)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you ^(AT)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ^14 (AU)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(AV)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(AW)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(AX)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(AY)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(AZ)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(BA)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(BB)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (BC)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[c] and with ^(BD)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(BE)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (BF)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^(BG)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And ^(BH)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^(BI)there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you ^(BJ)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and ^(BK)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with ^(BL)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall ^(BM)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.^[d] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ^30 (BN)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^(BO)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^(BP)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ^32 (BQ)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^(BR)but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad ^(BS)by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^(BT)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

³⁶ “The Lord will ^(BU)bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you ^(BV)nor your fathers have known. And ^(BW)there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become ^(BX)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. ^38 (BY)You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for ^(BZ)the locust shall consume it. ^39 (CA)You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you ^(CB)shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for ^(CC)they shall go into captivity. ^42 (CD)The cricket^[e] shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ^43 (CE)The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ^44 (CF)He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. ^(CG)He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

^45 (CH)“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ They shall be ^(CI)a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. ^47 (CJ)Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he ^(CK)will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. ^49 (CL)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^(CM)swooping down like the eagle, a nation ^(CN)whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a hard-faced nation ^(CO)who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. ⁵¹ It shall ^(CP)eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵² “They shall ^(CQ)besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ And ^(CR)you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, ^(CS)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is the most tender and refined among you will ^(CT)begrudge food to his brother, to ^(CU)the wife he embraces,^[f] and to the last of the children whom he has left, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, ^(CV)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. ^56 (CW)The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,^[g] to her son and to her daughter, ⁵⁷ her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, ^(CX)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, ^(CY)the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. ⁶⁰ And he will bring upon you again all ^(CZ)the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. ⁶² Whereas ^(DA)you were as numerous ^(DB)as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³ And as the Lord ^(DC)took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will ^(DD)take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

⁶⁴ “And the Lord ^(DE)will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and ^(DF)there you shall serve other gods ^(DG)of wood and stone, ^(DH)which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ And ^(DI)among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but ^(DJ)the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and ^(DK)a languishing soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. ^67 (DL)In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and ^(DM)the sights that your eyes shall see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord ^(DN)will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that ^(DO)you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

O God of Our Salvation

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

The Widow's Offering

21 ^(A)Jesus^[a] looked up and saw the rich ^(B)putting their gifts into ^(C)the offering box, ² and he saw a poor widow put in two ^(D)small copper coins.^{[b] 3} And he said, “Truly, I tell you, ^(E)this poor widow has put in more than all of them. ⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^(F)poverty put in all ^(G)she had to live on.”

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

^5 (H)And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, ⁶ “As for these things that you see, ^(I)the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” ⁷ And they asked him, “Teacher, ^(J)when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” ⁸ And he said, ^(K)“See that you are not led astray. For ^(L)many will come in my name, saying, ^(M)‘I am he!’ and, ^(N)‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. ⁹ And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be ^(O)terrified, for these things ^(P)must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

Jesus Foretells Wars and Persecution

¹⁰ Then he said to them, ^(Q)“Nation will rise against nation, and ^(R)kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ There will be great ^(S)earthquakes, and in various places ^(T)famines and pestilences. And there will be ^(U)terrors and great ^(V)signs from heaven. ¹² But before all this ^(W)they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to ^(X)the synagogues and ^(Y)prisons, and you ^(Z)will be brought before ^(AA)kings and ^(AB)governors for my name's sake. ^13 (AC)This will be your opportunity to bear witness. ¹⁴ Settle it therefore in your minds ^(AD)not to meditate beforehand how to answer, ¹⁵ for ^(AE)I will give you a mouth and ^(AF)wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or ^(AG)contradict. ¹⁶ You will be delivered up ^(AH)even by parents and brothers^[c] and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. ^17 (AI)You will be hated by all for my name's sake. ¹⁸ But ^(AJ)not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By your ^(AK)endurance you will gain your lives.

Jesus Foretells Destruction of Jerusalem

²⁰ “But ^(AL)when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that ^(AM)its desolation has come near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, ²² for these are ^(AN)days of ^(AO)vengeance, to fulfill ^(AP)all that is written. ^23 (AQ)Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and ^(AR)wrath against this people. ²⁴ They will fall by the edge of the sword and ^(AS)be led captive among all nations, and ^(AT)Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, ^(AU)until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁵ “And ^(AV)there will be signs in sun and moon ^(AW)and stars, and on the earth ^(AX)distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶ people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For ^(AY)the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ And then they will see ^(AZ)the Son of Man coming in a cloud ^(BA)with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and ^(BB)raise your heads, because ^(BC)your redemption is drawing near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

²⁹ And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. ³⁰ As soon as they come out in leaf, you see ^(BD)for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. ³¹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ^32 (BE)Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. ^33 (BF)Heaven and earth will pass away, but ^(BG)my words will not pass away.

Watch Yourselves

³⁴ “But watch yourselves ^(BH)lest ^(BI)your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and ^(BJ)cares of this life, and ^(BK)that day come upon you suddenly ^(BL)like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ But ^(BM)stay awake at all times, ^(BN)praying that you may ^(BO)have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and ^(BP)to stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁷ And ^(BQ)every day he was teaching in the temple, but ^(BR)at night he went out and lodged on ^(BS)the mount called Olivet. ³⁸ And early in the morning ^(BT)all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.