The Covenant Renewed in Moab

¹1 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel cin the land of Moab, besides dthe covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

²2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: e“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ³the great ftrials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴But to this day gthe Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. ⁵hI have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. ⁶iYou have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷And when you came to this place, jSihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. ⁸We took their land and kgave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹lTherefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper3 in all that you do.

¹⁰“You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,4 your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹your little ones, your wives, and the msojourner who is in your camp, from nthe one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, ¹²so that you may enter into the osworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³that he may pestablish you today as his people, and that qhe may be your God, as he promised you, and ras he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴It is not with you alone sthat I am making this sworn covenant, ¹⁵but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, tand with whoever is not here with us today.

¹⁶“You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. ¹⁷And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. ¹⁸Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ua root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. ²⁰The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather vthe anger of the Lord and whis jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord xwill blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. ²²And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ywill say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— ²³the whole land burned out with brimstone and zsalt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, aan overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, bAdmah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— ²⁴all the nations cwill say, d‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ ²⁵Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. ²⁷Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ebringing upon it all the curses written in this book, ²⁸and the Lord fuprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and gcast them into another land, as they are this day.’

²⁹“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Zayin

⁴⁹Remember eyour word to your servant,

in which you have made me fhope.

⁵⁰This is gmy comfort in my affliction,

that your promise hgives me life.

⁵¹iThe insolent utterly deride me,

but I do not jturn away from your law.

⁵²When I think of your rules from of old,

I take comfort, O Lord.

⁵³kHot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,

who forsake your law.

⁵⁴Your statutes have been my songs

in the house of my lsojourning.

⁵⁵I mremember your name in the night, O Lord,

and keep your law.

⁵⁶This blessing has fallen to me,

that nI have kept your precepts.

Heth

⁵⁷oThe Lord is my portion;

I promise to keep your words.

⁵⁸I pentreat your favor with all my heart;

be gracious to me qaccording to your promise.

⁵⁹When I rthink on my ways,

I turn my feet to your testimonies;

⁶⁰I hasten and do not delay

to keep your commandments.

⁶¹Though sthe cords of the wicked ensnare me,

I do not tforget your law.

⁶²At umidnight I rise to praise you,

because of your vrighteous rules.

⁶³wI am a companion of all who fear you,

of those who keep your precepts.

⁶⁴xThe earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;

yteach me your statutes!

Teth

⁶⁵You have dealt well with your servant,

O Lord, zaccording to your word.

⁶⁶Teach me agood judgment and knowledge,

for I believe in your commandments.

⁶⁷bBefore I was afflicted I went astray,

but now I keep your word.

⁶⁸cYou are good and do good;

dteach me your statutes.

⁶⁹eThe insolent fsmear me with lies,

but with my whole heart I gkeep your precepts;

⁷⁰their heart is unfeeling hlike fat,

but I idelight in your law.

⁷¹It is jgood for me that I was afflicted,

that I might learn your statutes.

⁷²kThe law of your mouth is better to me

than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Salvation for Foreigners

¹Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,

wfor soon my salvation will come,

and my righteousness be revealed.

²Blessed is the man who does this,

and the son of man who holds it fast,

xwho keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,

and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Let not ythe foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,

“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;

and let not the eunuch say,

“Behold, I am za dry tree.”

⁴For thus says the Lord:

“To the eunuchs xwho keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things that please me

and hold fast my covenant,

⁵aI will give in my house and within my walls

a bmonument and a name

better than sons and daughters;

cI will give them an everlasting name

that shall not be cut off.

⁶“And ythe foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,

and to be his servants,

everyone xwho keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,

and holds fast my covenant—

⁷dthese I will bring to emy holy mountain,

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

ftheir burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be accepted on my altar;

for gmy house shall be called a house of prayer

for all peoples.”

⁸The Lord God,

hwho gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,

i“I will gather yet others to him

besides those already gathered.”

Israel's Irresponsible Leaders

⁹jAll you beasts of the field, come to devour—

all you beasts in the forest.

¹⁰kHis watchmen are blind;

they are all without knowledge;

they are all silent ldogs;

they cannot bark,

dreaming, lying down,

loving to slumber.

¹¹mThe dogs have a mighty appetite;

they never have enough.

But nthey are shepherds who have no understanding;

they have all turned to their own way,

oeach to his own gain, one and all.

¹²p“Come,” they say, “let me get wine;

let us fill ourselves with strong drink;

qand tomorrow will be like this day,

great beyond measure.”

The Temptation of Jesus

¹sThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness tto be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting uforty days and forty nights, he vwas hungry. ³And wthe tempter came and said to him, “If you are xthe Son of God, command ythese stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, z“It is written,

a“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵bThen the devil took him to cthe holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

d“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again eit is written, f‘You shall not gput the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸hAgain, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, iSatan! For jit is written,

k“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

and lhim only shall you serve.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, mangels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹²Now when he heard that nJohn had been arrested, ohe withdrew into Galilee. ¹³And leaving pNazareth he went and lived in qCapernaum by rthe sea, in the territory of sZebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴tso that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵u“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

¹⁶vthe people dwelling in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and wshadow of death,

on them a light has dawned.”

¹⁷xFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, z“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”1

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁸aWhile walking by bthe Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you cfishers of men.”2 ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

²³dAnd he went throughout all Galilee, eteaching in their synagogues and fproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ghealing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all hSyria, and gthey brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ipains, jthose oppressed by demons, kthose having seizures, and lparalytics, and he healed them. ²⁵mAnd great crowds followed him from Galilee and the nDecapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.