Laws of Justice and Mercy

23 “Do not spread false reports.^(A) Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.^(B)

² “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice^(C) by siding with the crowd,^{(D) 3} and do not show favoritism^(E) to a poor person in a lawsuit.

⁴ “If you come across your enemy’s^(F) ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.^{(G) 5} If you see the donkey^(H) of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.

⁶ “Do not deny justice^(I) to your poor people in their lawsuits. ⁷ Have nothing to do with a false charge^(J) and do not put an innocent^(K) or honest person to death,^(L) for I will not acquit the guilty.^(M)

⁸ “Do not accept a bribe,^(N) for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.

⁹ “Do not oppress a foreigner;^(O) you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Sabbath Laws

¹⁰ “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, ¹¹ but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.^(P) Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹² “Six days do your work,^(Q) but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.^(R)

¹³ “Be careful^(S) to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods;^(T) do not let them be heard on your lips.^(U)

The Three Annual Festivals

¹⁴ “Three times^(V) a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

¹⁵ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;^(W) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,^(X) for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.^(Y)

¹⁶ “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest^(Z) with the firstfruits^(AA) of the crops you sow in your field.

“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering^(AB) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.^(AC)

¹⁷ “Three times^(AD) a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁸ “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.^(AE)

“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.^(AF)

¹⁹ “Bring the best of the firstfruits^(AG) of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.^(AH)

God’s Angel to Prepare the Way

²⁰ “See, I am sending an angel^(AI) ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.^{(AJ) 21} Pay attention to him and listen^(AK) to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive^(AL) your rebellion,^(AM) since my Name^(AN) is in him. ²² If you listen carefully to what he says and do^(AO) all that I say, I will be an enemy^(AP) to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. ²³ My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites,^(AQ) and I will wipe them out. ²⁴ Do not bow down before their gods or worship^(AR) them or follow their practices.^(AS) You must demolish^(AT) them and break their sacred stones^(AU) to pieces. ²⁵ Worship the Lord your God,^(AV) and his blessing^(AW) will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness^(AX) from among you, ²⁶ and none will miscarry or be barren^(AY) in your land. I will give you a full life span.^(AZ)

²⁷ “I will send my terror^(BA) ahead of you and throw into confusion^(BB) every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.^{(BC) 28} I will send the hornet^(BD) ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites^(BE) out of your way. ²⁹ But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals^(BF) too numerous for you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession^(BG) of the land.

³¹ “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea^[a] to the Mediterranean Sea,^[b] and from the desert to the Euphrates River.^(BH) I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out^(BI) before you. ³² Do not make a covenant^(BJ) with them or with their gods. ³³ Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare^(BK) to you.”

Eliphaz

4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite^(A) replied:

Jesus Anointed at Bethany^(A)(B)(C)

14 Now the Passover^(D) and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.^{(E) 2} “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

³ While he was in Bethany,^(F) reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.^(G)

⁴ Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? ⁵ It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages^[a] and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

⁶ “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ The poor you will always have with you,^[b] and you can help them any time you want.^(H) But you will not always have me. ⁸ She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.^{(I) 9} Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world,^(J) what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

¹⁰ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve,^(K) went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.^{(L) 11} They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

The Last Supper^(M)(N)

¹² On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb,^(O) Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹³ So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴ Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵ He will show you a large room upstairs,^(P) furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

¹⁶ The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷ When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸ While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹ They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”

²⁰ “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.^{(Q) 21} The Son of Man^(R) will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²² While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it^(S) and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

²³ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.^(T)

²⁴ “This is my blood of the^[c] covenant,^(U) which is poured out for many,” he said to them. ²⁵ “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”^(V)

²⁶ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.^(W)