Old/New Testament
Gleaning is a right given by God to pick up anything left in the fields at harvest time, and this is a special gift for those with real need.
25 Moses: If two people have a dispute and bring it to court, the judges there will decide the case and declare which one is innocent and which one is guilty. 2 If the judges decide the guilty party should be punished with a beating, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in front of the judge with the number of strokes appropriate to the evil offense— 3 but it can never be more than 40. This limit is to prevent excessive beatings, which would be publicly degrading.
4 Don’t muzzle the ox while it is treading out your grain.[a]
5 When two brothers are living together, sharing family property that hasn’t been divided, if one of them dies leaving a widow without sons, his widow must not be married to a man outside the family. The brother should marry his sister-in-law and try to have children with her in his brother’s name.[b]
The widow and any children she has by her second husband, by custom, lose their share in his property. When a widow and her children become the family of her brother-in-law, this is a Levirate marriage.
Moses: 6 Her firstborn son will be named after the brother who died, so that the first husband’s name will not disappear from Israel and that son will receive his share of the family inheritance. 7 If a man doesn’t want to marry his brother’s widow, she should go to the elders at the city gate and make a formal complaint: “My husband died, and his brother refuses to keep his name alive in Israel. He won’t marry me and give me children!” 8 The elders of his city will send for him and try to persuade him. He may resist and say, “I don’t want to marry her!” 9 In that case, the widow will come up to him, with the elders looking on, and pull one of his sandals off his foot, spit in his face, and then say, “If a man won’t make sure his brother’s family line continues, he deserves this kind of disgrace for not continuing his brother’s house!” 10 From then on, throughout Israel, his family will be known as “the house with the missing sandal,” and they’ll all be disgraced.
11 If two Israelites are fighting, and one man’s wife comes to help her husband because he’s getting beaten, if she grabs the other man by the genitals, she has disrespected his source of procreative power. 12 Cut her hand off; don’t show any pity!
13 Don’t keep two different weighing stones in your bag, a heavy one for when you want to weigh out full value and a light one for when you want to try to cheat someone. 14 Don’t keep two different measuring containers in your house, a large one for when you want to measure out full value and a small one for when you want to try to cheat someone. 15 Your weighing stone must be a full and fair weight, and your measuring container must be a full and fair size. That way you will live a long time on the ground the Eternal your God is giving to you, 16 because the Eternal your God is horrified by anyone who is so unjust as to cheat other people in weights or measures.
17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you as you were coming out of Egypt? 18 They found you on the road when you were all worn out, and they attacked those who had fallen behind and were isolated and defenseless. They showed no fear of God. 19 When you’re in a position to punish them for this, when all of your other enemies are defeated and you’re living peacefully in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you to live in, then wipe out every trace of the Amalekites under the sky. Don’t forget!
The Old Testament places a very high value on plans being brought to fruition. “Futility curses,” in which plans fail to reach fruition, are among the worst imagined in the ancient world. To prevent futility from happening, men are exempt from military service if they have not yet married their fiancées, if they have not enjoyed the fruit of a vineyard they have planted, or if they have not lived in a house they have built. Plans reaching fruition are cause for formal celebration and public acknowledgment of the Lord’s help. The fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob takes tangible form in the first crops from the new land, and this fulfillment calls for a ceremony of celebration and acknowledgment by each Israelite.
26 Moses: When you go into the land the Eternal your God is giving you to live in, when you’ve taken possession of it and are living there, 2 then take some of the very first produce you harvest from the land He is giving you, put it in a basket, and go to the place He will choose for His name. 3 Go to the priest who is serving at the time and say, “The Eternal promised our ancestors He’d give us this land, and I’m here today to acknowledge to the Eternal, my True God—I’ve officially settled in!” 4 Then the priest will take the basket from you and set it in front of the altar of the Eternal your God. 5 You will then testify in the presence of Him, “I’m descended from an Aramean nomad. The Lord watched over him everywhere he went. When he and his family moved to Egypt, there were only a few of them. But as they lived there as foreigners, they grew into a large, great, and powerful nation. 6 The Egyptians mistreated us and oppressed us. They made us their slaves and worked us mercilessly. 7 Then we cried out to the Eternal, the God of our ancestors, and He heard us. He saw that we were oppressed and exploited and mistreated. 8 He delivered us with overwhelming power, totally terrifying the Egyptians by testing them with plagues and showing He was the true God by doing amazing things to them. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now I’ve brought the very first produce from the ground that You, the Eternal, have given to me.” Then present the basket to the Eternal your God, and bow down before Him, 11 and celebrate all the good things He has given to you and your household. Be sure to invite the Levites and the foreigners who live in your town to the feast.
12 When you’ve gathered a tenth of your produce at the end of the third year, the year for local tithing, give it to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who live in your town. Let them come and take as much as they want to eat for as long as these supplies last. 13 And then pray this prayer to the Eternal, your True God: “I haven’t kept this sacred tithe for myself in my own house. I’ve given it to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, just as You commanded me. I haven’t broken or forgotten any of Your commands. 14 I haven’t eaten any of it while in mourning. I didn’t bring any of it here while I was ritually impure, and I haven’t offered any of it to the dead. I’ve listened to the voice of the Eternal, my God. I’ve done everything You commanded me to do. 15 Look down from heaven, from the holy place where You live, and bless Your people Israel and this land flowing with milk and honey, this ground You’ve given us just as You promised our ancestors.”
16 Today the Eternal your God commands you to follow all these regulations and decrees. Obey them carefully and devotedly with your whole heart and soul. 17 You’ve declared today that the Eternal will be your God, that you’ll live as He wants you to, that you’ll obey His regulations, commands and decrees, and that you’ll listen to His voice. 18 And today the Eternal has declared that you are His people—His own special possession, just as He said—and He’s acknowledged your promise to keep all His commands. 19 He’s declared that He’ll lift you up high above all the other nations He’s made. You’ll be praised, renowned, and honored. You also will be a people who are set apart for the Eternal your God, just as He said.
This major section of the book closes with a declaration that a covenant has now officially been made between the Lord and the current generation in Israel. Now the covenant has to be ratified and enforced.
Ancient treaties that great kings made with their subjects included a “document clause” that specified what each party would do with its own copy of the treaty. These copies were kept in prominent places, typically in the temples of the gods the kings worshiped. In the case of the covenant between God and Israel, the stone tablets are to stay inside the Lord’s covenant chest at Israel’s central place of worship. In addition, Moses specifies that a copy of the entire treaty must be written on giant stones and put on top of a mountain in the middle of Israel’s new territory.
27 Moses (commanding the people, with Israel’s elders supporting him): Obey all the commands I’m giving you today, and listen to the elders when they help you enact them. 2 When you cross the Jordan into the land the Eternal your God is giving you, set up some giant stones and whitewash them with lime. 3 Write each word of this law on them when you cross the Jordan to enter the land He is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey that the Eternal, God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 When you cross the Jordan, you will set up these stones on Mount Ebal and whitewash them with lime just as I’ve commanded you this day. 5 Build an altar there to Him with stones that iron has never struck; 6 with stones you find whole, build an altar to Him. Offer burnt offerings on the altar to Him. 7 Then sacrifice peace offerings and have a celebration feast in His presence. 8 And remember, write a complete copy of the law on the large stones. Make it clearly legible.
Ancient treaties included a list of blessings and curses. Ordinarily each party would call upon their own gods and ask for particular blessings for keeping the treaty or for particular curses if they broke it. In this treaty, however, the blessings and curses are spoken only to the people of Israel. It’s not necessary to pronounce any blessing or curses on the Lord because there’s no danger He’ll forget or break any of His agreements!
Moses (to all of Israel, with the Levitical priests supporting him): 9 Keep silent, and listen, Israel! Today you’ve become the Eternal’s very own people, and He’s become your God; 10 so listen to the voice of the Eternal your God and obey the commands and regulations I’m giving you today.
11 That day Moses charged the people.
Moses: 12 When you cross the Jordan River and settle in the land, hold a ceremony to ratify this covenant with the Lord. The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin will stand on the slope of Mount Gerizim to bless the people, 13 and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali will stand on Mount Ebal, representing the curse that will fall on anyone who breaks the covenant. 14 The Levites will shout in a loud voice, so that every Israelite can hear them and respond to the curses.
Levites: 15 A curse on anyone who carves or casts an idol, something so horrifying to the Eternal, and secretly worships what human craftsmen have made!
People: Let it be so![c]
Levites: 16 A curse on anyone who treats his father or mother with contempt!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 17 A curse on anyone who steals his neighbor’s land by moving a boundary marker!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 18 A curse on anyone who leads a blind person down the wrong road!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 19 A curse on anyone who deprives a foreigner, orphan, or widow of justice!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 20 A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, who violates the sanctity of his father’s intimate relations!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 21 A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with an animal!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 22 A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his sister—his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 23 A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his wife’s mother!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 24 A curse on anyone who murders his neighbor when no one else is watching!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 25 A curse on anyone who causes the death of the innocent just for a bribe!
People: Let it be so!
Levites: 26 A curse on anyone who doesn’t live by and do all that is written in the law![d]
People: Let it be so!
Jesus: 27 All of you will desert Me tonight. It was written by Zechariah,
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will scatter.[a]
28 But when I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.
Peter (protesting): 29 It doesn’t matter who else turns his back on You. I will never desert You.
Jesus: 30 Peter, mark My words. This very night before the cock crows twice, you will have denied Me three times.
Peter (insisting): 31 No, Teacher. Even if it means that I have to die with You, I’ll never deny You.
All the other disciples said similar things.
32 They came at length to a garden called Gethsemane.
Jesus: Stay here. I’m going a little farther to pray and to think.
33 He took Peter, James, and John with Him; and as they left the larger group behind, He became distressed and filled with sorrow.
Jesus: 34 My heart is so heavy; I feel as if I could die. Wait here for Me, and stay awake to keep watch.
35 He walked on a little farther. Then He threw Himself on the ground and prayed for deliverance from what was about to come.
Jesus: 36 Abba, Father, I know that anything is possible for You. Please take this cup away so I don’t have to drink from it. But whatever happens, let Your will be done—not Mine.
37 He got up, went back to the three, and found them sleeping.
Jesus (waking Peter): Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you wait with Me for just an hour? 38 Stay awake, and pray that you aren’t led into a trial of your own. It’s true—even when the spirit is willing, the body can betray it.
39 He went away again, and prayed again the same prayer as before—pleading with God but surrendering to His will.
40 He came back and found the three asleep; and when He woke them, they didn’t know what to say to Him.
41 After He had gone away and prayed for a third time, He returned to find them slumbering.
Jesus: Again? Still sleeping and getting a good rest? Well, that’s enough sleep. The time has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up now, and let’s go. The one who is going to betray Me is close by.
In the moments before Jesus’ death, He really knows what it feels like to be human and afraid. Jesus knows exactly what is about to happen to Him and exactly how bad it will be. Now that the time has come, He feels all the natural human emotions.
Most amazing of all is the prayer Jesus says in that moment: “Please take this cup away so I don’t have to drink from it.” Even though He divinely knows what is going to happen—what must happen—He still asks for a reprieve. At the same time, He submits His human desires and will to the plan of His Father: in order to experience fully what it means to be human, He has to go through even this—denying Himself and what He wants—to face certain torture and death.
43 Before He had finished talking, Judas (one of the twelve) approached with a large group of people—agents of the chief priests, scribes, and elders in Jerusalem armed with swords and clubs.
44 The signal they had arranged was a kiss. “Watch to see whom I kiss; He’s the One,” Judas had told them. “Arrest Him, and take Him into secure custody.”
45 As soon as they arrived, Judas stepped forward.
Judas (kissing Jesus): My Teacher.[b]
46 Immediately the soldiers grabbed Jesus and took Him into custody.
47 Now one of the disciples standing close by drew his sword and swung, cutting off the ear of a slave of Caiaphas, the high priest.
Jesus (calling out): 48 Am I a thief or a bandit that you have to come armed with swords and clubs to capture Me? 49 I sat teaching in the temple every day with you. You could have taken Me at any time, but you never did. Let the Scriptures be fulfilled.
50 When they saw the armed crowd take Jesus into custody, the disciples fled. 51 One of those following Jesus was a young man who was wearing nothing but a linen cloth. When people from the mob grabbed for him, 52 he wriggled out of their grasp, left them holding the cloth, and ran naked into the night.
53 They led Jesus off to see the high priest, who had gathered a council of religious and civic leaders, scribes, chief priests, and elders to hear the evidence and render some decision regarding Jesus.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.