Today's Reading

44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel;

45 These are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they had gone out from Egypt,

46 Across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel slew when they had gone out from Egypt.

47 And they possessed his land and the land of Og the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan toward the rising of the sun,

48 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even unto Mount Sirion, that is, Hermon,

49 And all the Arabah across the Jordan on the east even to the sea of the Arabah at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

1 And Moses called all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking in your hearing today, and learn them and keep them, so that you may do them.

2 Jehovah our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

3 Not with our fathers did Jehovah make this covenant, but with us, we who are all here alive today.

4 Face to face Jehovah spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire —

5 I was standing between Jehovah and you at that time to declare to you the word of Jehovah, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up to the mountain — saying,

6 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the slave house;

7 You shall have no other gods before Me.

8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth.

9 You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

10 Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

11 You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold guiltless him who takes His name in vain.

12 Keep the Sabbath day so as to sanctify it, as Jehovah your God has commanded you.

13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

14 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter nor your male servant nor your female servant nor your ox nor your donkey nor any of your cattle nor the sojourner with you who is within your gates, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as you do.

15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and that Jehovah your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; hence, Jehovah your God commanded you to hold the Sabbath day.

16 Honor your father and your mother, as Jehovah your God has commanded you, that your days may be extended and that it may be well with you upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you.

17 You shall not kill;

18 Neither shall you commit adultery;

19 Neither shall you steal;

20 Neither shall you testify as a vain witness against your neighbor;

21 Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

22 These words Jehovah spoke to all your congregation on the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness, with a great voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them upon two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

23 And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain burned with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders,

24 And said, Jehovah our God has just shown us His glory and His greatness, and His voice we have heard from the midst of the fire; today we have seen that God speaks with man and yet he lives.

25 Therefore why should we die now? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any longer, we will die.

26 For who is there among all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and has lived?

27 You go near and hear all that Jehovah our God says; then you will speak to us all that Jehovah our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do.

28 And Jehovah heard the sound of your words while you spoke to me; and Jehovah said to me, I have heard the sound of the words of this people which they have spoken to you; they have done well in all that they have spoken.

29 Oh that this heart of theirs would be in them always to fear Me and keep all My commandments so that it may go well with them and with their children forever!

30 Go, say to them, Return to your tents.

31 But you, stand here by Me that I may speak to you the whole commandment, and the statutes and the ordinances, which you will teach them to do in the land which I am giving them to possess.

32 Keep them therefore so that you may do them, even as Jehovah your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.

33 You shall walk in all the way that Jehovah your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may go well with you and that you may extend your days in the land which you will possess.

1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God has commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land into which you are crossing over to possess;

2 That you may fear Jehovah your God and keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I am commanding you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life; and that your days may be extended.

3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be certain to do it, that it may go well with you and that you may be greatly increased, in a land flowing with milk and honey, even as Jehovah, the God of your fathers, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel, Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one.

5 And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words, which I command you today, shall be upon your heart;

7 And you shall repeat them to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you journey on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up;

8 And you shall bind them on your hand as a sign, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes;

9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 And when Jehovah your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and fine cities that you did not build,

11 And houses full of every good thing that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, and you have eaten and are satisfied;

12 Be careful that you do not forget Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the slave house.

13 It is Jehovah your God whom you shall fear, and Him whom you shall serve; and it is by His name only that you shall swear.

14 You shall not go after other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you —

15 For Jehovah your God is a jealous God in the midst of you. Otherwise the anger of Jehovah your God will be kindled against you, and He will destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 You shall not test Jehovah your God, as you tested Him at Massah.

17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God and His testimonies and His statutes, which He has commanded you.

18 And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of Jehovah so that it may go well with you and you may enter and possess the good land, concerning which Jehovah swore to your fathers

19 To drive out all your enemies from before you, as Jehovah has spoken.

20 When your son asks you in the future, saying, What is the significance of the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Jehovah our God commanded you?

21 Then you will say to your son, We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

22 And Jehovah put forth before our eyes great and grievous signs and wonders in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his house.

23 Then He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, that He might give us the land which He swore to our fathers.

24 And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes so that we would fear Jehovah our God for our good always and He would preserve us alive, as we are this day.

25 And it will be righteousness to us if we are certain to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God, as He commanded us.

1 When Jehovah your God brings you into the land which you are about to enter to possess, and clears away many nations from before you — the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you —

2 And Jehovah your God delivers them up before you and you defeat them, you shall utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor shall you show them any favor.

3 And you shall not make marriage alliances with them: Your daughters you shall not give to their sons, and their daughters you shall not take for your sons;

4 For they will draw your sons away from following after Me to serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will burn against you and He will quickly destroy you.

5 But you shall deal with them in this way: Their altars you shall tear down, their pillars you shall shatter, their Asherahs you shall hew down, and their idols you shall burn with fire.

6 For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God; it is you whom Jehovah your God has chosen from among all the peoples which are upon the face of the earth to be a people for His personal treasure.

7 It was not because you were more numerous than all the peoples that Jehovah has set His affection on you and has chosen you, for you were the fewest of all the peoples;

8 Rather, because Jehovah loved you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, Jehovah has brought you out with a mighty hand and ransomed you from the slave house, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to draw up a narrative concerning the matters which have been fully accomplished among us,

2 Even as those who from the beginning became eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,

3 It seemed good to me also, having carefully investigated all things from the first, to write them out for you in an orderly fashion, most excellent Theophilus,

4 So that you may fully know the certainty of the things concerning which you were instructed.

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zachariah, of the course of Abijah; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

7 And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in their days.

8 And while he served as priest in the order of his course before God,

9 According to the custom of the priestly service, the lot fell to him to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And all the multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of the burning of incense.

11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And Zachariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

14 And you will have joy and exultation, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall by no means drink wine and liquor. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb,

16 And many of the sons of Israel he will turn to the Lord their God.

17 And it is he who will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the prudence of the righteous, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready.

18 And Zachariah said to the angel, By what shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.

19 And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to announce the good news of these things to you.

20 And behold, you shall be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.

21 And the people were waiting for Zachariah, and they marveled at his delaying in the temple.

22 And when he came out, he was not able to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he made signs to them and remained dumb.

23 And when the days of his service were fulfilled, he went to his house.

24 And after these days Elizabeth his wife conceived and stayed in seclusion for five months, saying,

25 In this way has the Lord dealt with me in the days in which He looked upon me to take away my reproach among men.