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16 “Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh your God from among your flock and herd at the place that Yahweh will choose, to let his name dwell there. 3 You shall not eat with it[a] anything leavened; seven days you shall eat with it[b] unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen with[c] you in any of your territory[d] for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5 You are not allowed to offer the Passover sacrifice in one of your towns[e] that Yahweh your God is giving to you, 6 but only at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there; you shall offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening at sunset,[f] at the designated time[g] of your going out from Egypt. 7 And you shall cook, and you shall eat it at the place that Yahweh your God will choose; and you may turn in the morning and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be an assembly for Yahweh your God; you shall not do work.
9 “You shall count off seven weeks for you; from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain[h] you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 And then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you shall give just as Yahweh your God has blessed you. 11 And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite that is in your towns[i] and the alien and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place that Yahweh your God will choose to let his name dwell there. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so you shall diligently observe[j] these rules.
13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for yourselves[k] seven days at the gathering in of the produce[l] from your threshing floor and from your press; 14 and you shall rejoice at your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns.[m] 15 Seven days you shall celebrate your feast to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose, for Yahweh your God shall bless you in all of your produce[n] and in all of the work of your hand, and you shall surely be rejoicing.[o] 16 Three times in the year all of your males shall appear before [p] Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before Yahweh[q] empty-handed. 17 Each person shall give as he is able,[r] that is, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you.
18 “You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your towns[s] that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people righteous judgments.[t] 19 You shall not subvert[u] justice; you shall not show partiality;[v] and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind the eyes of the wise and misrepresents the words of the righteous. 20 Justice, only justice[w] you shall pursue, so that you may live, and you shall take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. 21 You shall not plant for yourselves[x] an Asherah pole[y] beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.[z] 22 And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, a thing that Yahweh your God hates.
17 “You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or sheep that has a physical defect[aa] of anything seriously wrong,[ab] for that is a detestable thing to Yahweh your God. 2 If there is found in one of your towns[ac] that Yahweh your God is giving to you a man or a woman that does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God to transgress his covenant 3 and by going and serving other gods and so he bows down to them and to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of heaven which I have forbidden,[ad] 4 and it is reported to you or you hear about it and you enquire about it thoroughly and, indeed,[ae] the trustworthiness of the deed[af] has been established, it has occurred,[ag] this detestable thing, in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has[ah] done this evil thing to your gates; that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones to death.[ai] 6 On the evidence of[aj] two or three witnesses the person shall be put to death.[ak] The person[al] shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the person[am] to kill the person,[an] and afterward the hands[ao] of all the people, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
8 “If a matter is too difficult for you,[ap] for example disputes between blood and blood,[aq] between legal claim and legal claim[ar] and between assault and assault[as] and between matters of discernment in your towns,[at] then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; 9 then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be in office in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you the verdict.[au]
10 “And you shall carry out exactly the decision[av] that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and you shall diligently observe[aw] according to all that they instruct you. 11 And so according to the instruction of the law[ax] that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or to the left. 12 And the man who treats with contempt[ay] so as not to listen to the priest who is standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people will hear and will be afraid, and they will not behave presumptuously again.
14 “When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God is giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, ‘I will set over me a king like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen[az] you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who is not your countryman.[ba] 16 Except, he may not make numerous[bb] for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to to go to Egypt in order to increase horses,[bc] for Yahweh has said to you that you may never return.[bd] 17 And he must not acquire many[be] wives for himself, so that his heart would turn aside; and he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively.[bf]
18 “And then[bg] when he is sitting[bh] on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll before[bi] the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it[bj] all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by diligently observing[bk] all the word of this law and these rules, 20 so as not to exalt his heart above his countrymen[bl] and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that he may reign long over his kingdom,[bm] he and his children in the midst of Israel.”
Herod Perplexed About Jesus
7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John has been raised from the dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and others that some prophet of ancient times had risen. 9 And Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he was wanting to see him.
The Feeding of Five Thousand
10 And when they[a] returned, the apostles described to him all that they had done. And he took them along and[b] withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. 11 But when[c] the crowds found out, they followed him, and welcoming them, he began to speak[d] to them about the kingdom of God, and he cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to be far spent, and the twelve came up and[e] said to him, “Send away the crowd so that they can go into the surrounding villages and farms to obtain lodging and find provisions, because we are here in a desolate place. 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said, “We have no[f] more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and[g] purchase food for all these people.” 14 (For there were about five thousand men.) So he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, and[h] looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them and began giving[i] them[j] to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up by them—twelve baskets of broken pieces.
Peter’s Confession
18 And it happened that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered and[k] said, “John the Baptist, but others, Elijah, and others, that one of the ancient prophets has risen.” 20 And he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and[l] said, “The Christ of God.”
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
21 But he warned and[m] commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “It is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised on the third day.
Taking Up One’s Cross to Follow Jesus
23 And he said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me, this person will save it. 25 For what is a person benefited if he[n] gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of this person when he comes in his glory and the glory[o] of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will never experience death until they see the kingdom of God.”
A Prayer for the Prosperity of God’s Anointed King
Of Solomon.[a]
72 O God, give your judgments to the king,
and your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3 Let the mountains yield prosperity[b] for the people,
and the hills in righteousness.
4 May he provide justice for the poor of the people,
save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 May he live long[c] while the sun endures[d]
as long as the moon[e] for all generations.[f]
6 May he descend like rain on mown grass,
like showers watering the earth.
7 May what is right blossom in his days
and an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
8 And may he rule from sea up to sea,
and from the River[g] to the edges of the land.
9 Let the desert dwellers bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 Let the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute.
Let the kings of Sheba and Seba present gifts,
11 and let all kings bow down to him.
Let all nations serve him.
12 Indeed he will deliver the needy who is crying for help,
and the afflicted who has no helper.
13 He will take pity on the helpless and needy,
and the lives of the needy he will save.
14 From oppression and from violence
he will redeem their lives,
and their blood will be precious in his eyes.
15 So may he live, and may gold from Sheba be given to him,
and may prayers be offered for him continually.
May blessings be invoked for him all day long.[h]
16 May there be an abundance of grain in the land
even on the top of the mountains.
May his crop[i] sway like the trees of Lebanon,
and may those from the city blossom like the grass of the earth.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name increase as long as the sun shines,[j]
and let them be blessed in him.
Let all nations call him blessed.
18 Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonderful things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name forever,
and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.
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