Old/New Testament
You Are God’s People
7 The Lord your God will bring you into the land that you are entering and that you will ·have as your own [possess]. As you go in, he will ·force out [clear away/out] these nations: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—seven nations that are stronger than you. 2 The Lord your God will hand these nations over to you, and when you ·defeat [L strike] them, you must ·destroy them completely [devote them to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17]. Do not ·make [L cut] a ·peace treaty [covenant] with them or show them any mercy. 3 Do not marry any of them, or let your daughters marry their sons, or let your sons marry their daughters. 4 If you do, those people will turn your children away from me, to begin serving other gods. Then the Lord will be very angry with you, and he will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you must do to those people: Tear down their altars, smash their holy stone pillars, cut down their ·Asherah idols [L Asherah; 7:5; Judg. 3:7], and burn their idols in the fire. 6 You are holy people who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on earth ·to be his very own [as his treasured/special possession; Ex. 19:5].
7 The Lord did not ·care [have affection] for you and choose you because there were many of you—you are the smallest nation of all. 8 But the Lord chose you because he loved you, and he kept his promise to your ·ancestors [fathers; Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20]. So he brought you out of Egypt by his ·great power [L strong hand] and ·freed [ransomed; redeemed] you from the ·land of slavery [L house of bondage], from the ·power [L hand] of the king of Egypt. 9 So know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He will ·keep [guard] his ·agreement [covenant; treaty] of love for a thousand ·lifetimes for people [generations] who love him and obey his commands. 10 But he will pay back those people who hate him. He will destroy them, and he will not be slow to pay back those who hate him. 11 So be careful to obey the commands, ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements], and laws I give you today.
12 If you pay attention to these laws and obey them carefully, the Lord your God will keep his ·agreement [covenant; treaty] and show his ·love [loyalty] to you, as he promised your ·ancestors [fathers]. 13 He will love and bless you. He will ·make the number of your people grow; he will bless you with children [L multiply the fruit of your womb]. ·He will bless your fields with good crops and will give you grain, new wine, and oil [L …and the fruit of your land, your grain, new wine, and oil]. ·He will bless your herds with calves and your flocks with lambs [L …the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flocks] in the land he promised your ·ancestors [fathers] he would give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people [Gen. 12:1–3]. ·Every husband and wife will have children, and all your cattle will have calves [L There will be no barrenness or sterility among you or your livestock]. 15 The Lord will take away all disease from you; ·you will not have [L he will not inflict you with] the terrible diseases that were in Egypt, but he will give them to all the people who hate you. 16 You must ·destroy [devour] all the people the Lord your God hands over to you. Do not ·feel sorry for [pity] them, and do not ·worship [serve] their gods, or they will trap you.
17 You might say ·to yourselves [L in your hearts], “Because these nations are stronger than we are, ·we can’t [L how can we…?] ·force them out [dispossess them].” 18 But don’t be afraid of them. Remember what the Lord your God did to all of Egypt and ·its king [L Pharaoh]. 19 ·You [L Your eyes] saw for yourselves the troubles, signs, and miracles he did, how the Lord’s ·great power [L strong hand] and ·strength [L outstretched arm] brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will do the same thing to all the nations you now fear. 20 The Lord your God will also send ·terror [or pestilence; or hornets] among them so that even those who are alive and hiding from you will die. 21 Don’t ·be afraid of [dread] them, because the Lord your God is with you; he is a great God and ·people are afraid of him [awesome]. 22 When the Lord your God ·forces those nations out [clears away/out those nations] of the land, he will do it little by little ahead of you. You won’t be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will grow too many in number [C because of the reduced population]. 23 But the Lord your God will hand those nations over to you, ·confusing [panicking] them until they are destroyed. 24 The Lord will ·help you defeat their kings [L give their kings into your hand], and ·the world will forget who they were [L you will destroy their name from under the heavens]. No one will be able to ·stop you [stand against you]; you will destroy them all. 25 Burn up their idols in the fire. Do not ·wish for [covet] the silver and gold they have, and don’t take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it. The Lord your God ·hates [despises] it. 26 Do not bring one of those ·hateful [despised] things into your house, or you will be ·completely destroyed [devoted to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17] along with it. ·Hate [Detest] and reject those things; they must be ·completely destroyed [devoted to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17].
Remember the Lord
8 Carefully obey every command I give you today. Then you will live and ·grow in number [multiply], and you will enter and ·take [possess] the land the Lord promised your ·ancestors [fathers; Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20]. 2 Remember ·how the Lord your God has led [all the way the Lord brought] you in the ·desert [wilderness] for these forty years, ·taking away your pride [humbling you] and testing you, because he wanted to know what was in your heart. He wanted to know if you would obey his commands. 3 He ·took away your pride [humbled you] when he let you get hungry, and then he fed you with manna [Ex. 16:31–36], which neither you nor your ·ancestors [fathers] had ever seen. This was to teach you that a person does not live on bread alone, but by everything the Lord says [Matt. 4:4]. 4 During these forty years, your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell. 5 Know in your heart that the Lord your God ·corrects [instructs; disciplines] you as a parent ·corrects [instructs; disciplines] a child.
6 Obey the commands of the Lord your God, ·living as he has commanded you [L going in his way] and ·respecting [fearing] him. 7 The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with ·rivers [wadis] and pools of water, with ·springs [deeps; underground water] that flow in the valleys and hills, 8 a land that has wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey. 9 It is a land where you will have ·plenty of food [L no scarcity of food/bread], where you will have everything you need, where the rocks are iron, and where you can ·dig [mine] copper out of the hills.
10 When you ·have all you want to eat [L eat and are satisfied], then ·praise [bless] the Lord your God for giving you a good land. 11 Be careful not to forget the Lord your God so that you ·fail to obey [do not keep] his commands, laws, and ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements] that I am giving to you today. 12 When you eat ·all you want [L and are satisfied] and build nice houses and live in them, 13 when your herds and flocks ·grow large [multiply] and your silver and gold ·increase [multiply], ·when you have more of everything [and all you have multiplies], 14 then your heart will ·become proud [L be lifted up/exalted]. You will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ·where you were slaves [L from the house of bondage]. 15 He led you through the ·large [vast] and ·terrible [awesome] ·desert [wilderness] that was dry and had no water, and that had ·poisonous [L burning] snakes and stinging insects. He gave you water from a ·solid [or flint] rock [Ex. 17:1–7] 16 and manna to eat in the ·desert [wilderness; Ex. 16:31–36]. Manna was something your ·ancestors [fathers] had never seen. He did this to ·take away your pride [humble you] and to test you, so things would go well for you in the end. 17 You might say ·to yourself [L in your heart/mind], “I am rich because of ·my own power and strength [L the power and strength of my hand; Ps. 30:6–7],” 18 but remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich, keeping the ·agreement [covenant; treaty] he promised to your ·ancestors [fathers], as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and ·follow [L go after] other gods and ·worship [serve] them and bow down to them, I ·warn you [testify/witness to you] today that you will be destroyed. 20 Just as the Lord destroyed the other nations for you, you can be destroyed if you do not ·obey [L listen to the voice of] the Lord your God.
The Lord Will Be with Israel
9 Listen, Israel. You will soon cross the Jordan River to go in and ·force out [dispossess] nations that are bigger and stronger than you. They have large cities with ·walls [fortifications] up to the ·sky [heavens]. 2 The people there are ·Anakites [L sons/descendants of the Anakim], who are strong and tall [1:28; Num. 13:28]. You know about them, and you have heard it said: “·No one can stop [L Who can stand up to…?] the ·Anakites [L the sons/descendants of Anak].” 3 But today remember that the Lord your God goes in before you to destroy them like a ·fire that burns things up [consuming fire]. He will defeat ·them [L and subdue them] ahead of you, and you will force them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has said.
4 After the Lord your God has forced those nations out ahead of you, don’t say ·to yourself [L in your heart/mind], “The Lord brought me here to take this land because I am so ·good [righteous].” No! It is because these nations are evil that the Lord will ·force them out [dispossess them] ahead of you. 5 You are going in to ·take [possess] the land, not because ·you are good and honest [L of your righteousness or the integrity/virtue of your heart/mind], but because these nations are evil. That is why the Lord your God will ·force them out [dispossess them] ahead of you, to keep his promise to your ·ancestors [fathers], to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20]. 6 The Lord your God is giving you this good land to ·take [possess] as your own. But know this: It is not because you are ·good [righteous]; you are a ·stubborn [L stiff-necked] people.
Remember the Lord’s Anger
7 Remember this and do not forget it: You made the Lord your God angry in the ·desert [wilderness]. You ·would not obey [rebelled against] the Lord from the day you left Egypt until you arrived here. 8 At ·Mount Sinai [L Horeb; 1:6] you made the Lord angry—angry enough to destroy you [Ex. 32]. 9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets with the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] the Lord had ·made [L cut] with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread or drink water. 10 The Lord gave me two stone tablets, which God had written on with his own finger [C the Ten Commandments; Ex. 20:2–17; 31:18]. On them were all the commands that the Lord gave to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day ·you were gathered there [of the assembly].
11 When the forty days and forty nights were over, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets with the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] on them. 12 Then the Lord told me, “Get up and go down quickly from here, because the people you brought out from Egypt are ·ruining [corrupting] themselves. They have quickly turned away from ·what [L the way] I commanded and have made an idol for themselves [C a golden calf; Ex. 32:3–4].”
13 The Lord said to me, “I have watched these people, and they are very ·stubborn [L stiff-necked]! 14 Get away so that I may destroy them and ·make the whole world forget who they are [L blot off their name from under heaven]. Then I will make another nation from you that will be bigger and stronger than they are.”
15 So I turned and came down the mountain that was burning with fire, and the two stone tablets with the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] were in my hands. 16 When I looked, I saw you had sinned against the Lord your God and had made an idol in the shape of a calf. You had quickly turned away from ·what [L the way] the Lord had ·told [commanded] you to do. 17 So I took the two stone tablets and threw them down, breaking them into pieces ·right in front of you [L before your eyes; Ex. 32:19].
18 Then I ·again [as before/formerly] bowed facedown on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread or drink water. You had sinned by doing what the Lord said was evil, and you made him angry. 19 I was afraid of the Lord’s anger and rage, because he was angry enough with you to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me ·again [L at that time]. 20 And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but then I prayed for Aaron, too. 21 I took that sinful calf idol you had made and burned it in the fire. I crushed it into a powder like dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain [Ex. 32:20].
22 You also made the Lord angry at Taberah [Num. 11:3], Massah [Ex. 17:7], and Kibroth Hattaavah [Num. 11:34].
23 Then the Lord sent you away from Kadesh Barnea and said, “Go up and ·take [possess] the land I have given you.” But you ·rejected [rebelled against] the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust him or ·obey him [L listen to his voice; Num. 13–14]. 24 You have ·refused to obey [rebelled against] the Lord as long as I have[a] known you.
25 The Lord had said he would destroy you, so I threw myself down in front of him for those forty days and forty nights. 26 I prayed to the Lord and said, “Lord God, do not destroy your people, your ·own people [L inheritance], whom you ·freed [ransomed; redeemed] and brought out of Egypt by your great power and ·strength [L strong hand]. 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t look at how ·stubborn [hard] these people are, and don’t look at their sin and evil. 28 Otherwise, ·Egypt [L the land from which you brought us] will say, ‘It was because the Lord was not able to take his people into the land he promised them, and it was because he hated them that he took them into the ·desert [wilderness] to kill them.’ 29 But they are your people, Lord, your ·own people [L inheritance], whom you brought out of Egypt with your great power and ·strength [L outstretched arm].”
19 That evening, Jesus and his ·followers[a] [disciples] left the city.
The Power of Faith(A)
20 The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his ·followers [disciples], they saw the fig tree ·dry and dead [withered], even to the roots. 21 Peter ·remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “·Teacher [L Rabbi], look! The fig tree you cursed is ·dry and dead [withered]!”
22 Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘·Go [Be lifted up], fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your ·mind [heart] and believe that what you say will happen, ·God will do it for you [it will be done for you]. 24 So I tell you to believe that you have received ·the things [everything] you ask for in prayer, and ·God will give them to you [you will receive them]. 25 When you ·are praying [L stand praying], if you ·are angry with [have anything against] someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your ·sins [transgressions; trespasses]. |26 But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your ·sins [transgressions; trespasses].|”[b]
Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority(B)
27 Jesus and his ·followers [disciples] went again to Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple [complex; area; courts; see 11:15], the ·leading [T chief] priests, the ·teachers of the law [scribes], and the elders came to him. 28 They said to him, “What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
29 Jesus answered, “I will ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 30 Tell me: When John baptized people, was that authority from ·God [L heaven; C a reverential Jewish way of referring to God] or just from ·other people [human beings]?”
31 They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from ·God [L heaven],’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘It was from ·other people [human beings],’ the crowd will be against us.” (These leaders were afraid of the people, because all the people believed that John was a prophet.)
33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.”
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.