Through the Bible – Day 65

₁People of Israel, you must celebrate Passover in the month of Abib, because one night in that month years ago, the LORD your God rescued you from Egypt. ₂The Passover sacrifice must be a cow, a sheep, or a goat, and you must offer it at the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. _3-4Eat all the meat of the Passover sacrifice that same night. But don't serve bread made with yeast at the Passover meal. Serve the same kind of thin bread that you ate when you were slaves suffering in Egypt and when you had to leave Egypt quickly. As long as you live, this thin bread will remind you of the day you left Egypt.

For seven days following Passover, don't make any bread with yeast. In fact, there should be no yeast anywhere in Israel.

₅Don't offer the Passover sacrifice in any town where you happen to live. ₆It must be offered at the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. Kill the sacrifice at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt. ₇Then cook it and eat it there at the place of worship, returning to your tents the next morning.

₈Eat thin bread for the next six days. Then on the seventh day, don't do any work. Instead, come together and worship the LORD.

₉Seven weeks after you start your grain harvest, _10-11go to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped and celebrate the Harvest Festival in honour of the LORD your God. Bring him an offering as large as you can afford, depending on how big a harvest he has given you. Be sure to take along your sons and daughters and all your servants. Also invite the poor, including Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. ₁₂Remember that you used to be slaves in Egypt, so obey these laws.

_13-15After you have finished the grain harvest and the grape harvest, take your sons and daughters and all your servants to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. Celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days. Also invite the poor, including Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows.

The LORD will give you big harvests and make you successful in everything you do. You will be completely happy, so celebrate this festival in honour of the LORD your God.

₁₆Each year there are three festivals when all Israelite men must go to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. These are the Festival of Thin Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. And don't forget to take along a gift for the LORD. ₁₇The bigger the harvest the LORD gives you, the bigger your gift should be.

_18-19After you are settled in the towns that you will receive from the LORD your God, the people in each town must appoint judges and other officers. Those of you who become judges must be completely fair when you make legal decisions, even if someone important is involved. Don't take bribes to give unfair decisions. Bribes keep people who are wise from seeing the truth and turn honest people into liars.

₂₀People of Israel, if you want to enjoy a long and successful life, make sure that everyone is treated with justice in the land the LORD is giving you.

₂₁When you build the altar for offering sacrifices to the LORD your God, don't set up a sacred pole for the worship of the goddess Asherah. ₂₂And don't set up a sacred stone! The LORD hates these things.

₁If an ox or a sheep has something wrong with it, don't offer it as a sacrifice to the LORD your God—he will be disgusted!

_2-3The LORD your God is giving you towns to live in. But later, a man or a woman in your town may start worshipping other gods, or even the sun, moon, or stars. I have warned you not to worship other gods, because whoever worships them is disobeying the LORD and breaking the agreement he made with you. ₄So when you hear that someone in your town is committing this disgusting sin, you must carefully find out if that person really is guilty. _5-7But you will need two or three witnesses—one witness isn't enough to prove a person guilty.

Get rid of those who are guilty of such evil. Take them outside your town gates and let everyone stone them to death. But the witnesses must be the first to throw stones.

_8-12It may be difficult to find out the truth in some legal cases in your town. You may not be able to decide if someone was killed accidentally or murdered. Or you may not be able to tell whether an injury or some property damage was done by accident or on purpose. If the case is too difficult, take it to the court at the place where the LORD your God chooses to be worshipped.

This court will be made up of one judge and several priests who serve at the LORD's altar. They will explain the law to you and give you their decision about the case. Do exactly what they tell you, or you will be put to death. ₁₃When other Israelites hear about it, they will be afraid and obey the decisions of the court.

₁₄People of Israel, after you capture the land the LORD your God is giving you, and after you settle on it, you will say, “We want a king, just like the nations around us.”

₁₅Go ahead and appoint a king, but make sure that he is an Israelite and that he is the one the LORD has chosen.

₁₆The king should not have many horses, especially those from Egypt. The LORD has said his people are never to go back there again. ₁₇And the king must not have a lot of wives—they might tempt him to be unfaithful to the LORD. Finally, the king must not try to get huge amounts of silver and gold.

₁₈The official copy of God's laws will be kept by the priests of the Levi tribe. So, as soon as anyone becomes king, he must go to the priests and write out a copy of these laws while they watch. ₁₉Each day the king must read and obey these laws, so that he will learn to worship the LORD with fear and trembling ₂₀and not think that he's better than everyone else.

If the king completely obeys the LORD's commands, he and his descendants will rule Israel for many years.

₁The people of the Levi tribe, including the priests, will not receive any land. Instead, they will receive part of the sacrifices that are offered to the LORD, ₂because he has promised to provide for them in this way.

₃When you sacrifice a bull or sheep, the priests will be given the shoulder, the jaws, and the stomach. ₄In addition, they will receive the first part of your grain harvest and part of your first batches of wine and olive oil. You must also give them the first wool that is cut from your sheep each year. ₅Give these gifts to the priests, because the LORD has chosen them and their descendants out of all the tribes of Israel to be his special servants at the place of worship.

₆Any Levite can leave his home town, and go to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped, ₇and then be a special servant of the LORD there, just like all the other Levites. ₈Some Levites may have money from selling family possessions, and others may not. But all Levites serving at the place of worship will receive the same amount of food from the sacrifices and gifts brought by the people.

₉Soon you will go into the land that the LORD your God is giving you. The nations that live there do things that are disgusting to the LORD, and you must not follow their example. _10-11Don't sacrifice your son or daughter. And don't try to use any kind of magic or witchcraft to tell fortunes or to cast spells or to talk with spirits of the dead.

₁₂The LORD is disgusted with anyone who does these things, and that's why he will help you destroy the nations that are in the land. ₁₃Never be guilty of doing any of these disgusting things!

₁₄You will go in and take the land from nations that practise magic and witchcraft. But the LORD your God won't allow you to do those things. ₁₅Instead, he will choose one of your own people to be a prophet just like me, and you must do what that prophet says. ₁₆You were asking for a prophet the day you were gathered at Mount Sinai and said to the LORD, “Please don't let us hear your voice or see this terrible fire again—if we do, we will die!”

₁₇Then the LORD told me:

₂₁You may be asking yourselves, “How can we tell if a prophet's message really comes from the LORD?” ₂₂You will know, because if the LORD says something will happen, it will happen. And if it doesn't, you will know that the prophet was falsely claiming to speak for the LORD. Don't be afraid of any prophet whose message doesn't come from the LORD.

₁₄When Jesus and his three disciples came back down, they saw a large crowd around the other disciples. The teachers of the Law of Moses were arguing with them.

₁₅The crowd was really surprised to see Jesus, and everyone hurried over to greet him.

₁₆Jesus asked, “What are you arguing about?”

₁₇Someone from the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. A demon keeps him from talking. ₁₈Whenever the demon attacks my son, it throws him to the ground and makes him foam at the mouth and grit his teeth in pain. Then he becomes stiff. I asked your disciples to force out the demon, but they couldn't do it.”

₁₉Jesus said, “You people don't have any faith! How much longer must I be with you? Why do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

₂₀They brought the boy, and as soon as the demon saw Jesus, it made the boy shake all over. He fell down and began rolling on the ground and foaming at the mouth.

₂₁Jesus asked the boy's father, “How long has he been like this?”

The man answered, “Ever since he was a child. ₂₂The demon has often tried to kill him by throwing him into a fire or into water. Please have pity and help us if you can!”

₂₃Jesus replied, “Why do you say ‘if you can’? Anything is possible for someone who has faith!”

₂₄Straight away the boy's father shouted, “I do have faith! Please help me to have even more.”

₂₅When Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering fast, he spoke sternly to the evil spirit that had kept the boy from speaking or hearing. He said, “I order you to come out of the boy! Don't ever bother him again.”

₂₆The spirit screamed and made the boy shake all over. Then it went out of him. The boy looked dead, and almost everyone said he was. ₂₇But Jesus took hold of his hand and helped him stand up.

₂₈After Jesus and the disciples had gone back home and were alone, they asked him, “Why couldn't we force out that demon?”

₂₉Jesus answered, “Only prayer can force out that kind of demon.”

₃₀Jesus left with his disciples and started through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know about it, ₃₁because he was teaching the disciples that the Son of Man would be handed over to people who would kill him. But three days later he would rise to life. ₃₂The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant, and they were afraid to ask.