Through the Bible – Day 71

Bible text(s)

Deuteronomy 31

Joshua is appointed the leader of Israel

₁Moses again spoke to the whole nation of Israel:

₂I am a hundred and twenty years old, and I am no longer able to be your leader. And besides that, the LORD your God has told me that he won't let me cross the River Jordan. _3-5But he has promised that he and Joshua will lead you across the Jordan to attack the nations that live on the other side. The LORD will destroy those nations just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, those two Amorite kings. Just remember—whenever you capture a place, kill everyone who lives there.

₆Be brave and strong! Don't be afraid of the nations on the other side of the Jordan. The LORD your God will always be at your side, and he will never abandon you.

₇Then Moses called Joshua up in front of the crowd and said:

Joshua, be brave and strong as you lead these people into their land. The LORD made a promise long ago to Israel's ancestors that this land would some day belong to Israel. That time has now come, and you must divide up the land among the people. ₈The LORD will lead you into the land. He will always be with you and help you, so don't ever be afraid of your enemies.

Read these laws

₉Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings and gave them to the priests and the leaders of Israel. The priests were from the Levi tribe, and they carried the sacred chest that belonged to the LORD. _10-11Moses told these priests and leaders:

Each year the Israelites must come together to celebrate the Festival of Shelters at the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. You must read these laws and teachings to the people at the festival every seventh year, the year when loans do not need to be repaid. _12-13Everyone must come—men, women, children, and even the foreigners who live in your towns. And each new generation will listen and learn to worship the LORD their God with fear and trembling and to do exactly what is said in God's Law.

Israel will reject the Lord

₁₄The LORD told Moses, “You will soon die, so bring Joshua to the sacred tent, and I will appoint him the leader of Israel.”

Moses and Joshua went to the sacred tent, ₁₅and the LORD appeared in a thick cloud right over the entrance to the tent. ₁₆The LORD said:

Moses, you will soon die. But Israel is going into a land where other gods are worshipped, and Israel will reject me and start worshipping these gods. The people will break the agreement I made with them, ₁₇and I will be so furious that I will abandon them and ignore their prayers. I will send disasters and suffering that will nearly wipe them out. Finally, they will realize that the disasters happened because I abandoned them. ₁₈They will pray to me, but I will ignore them because they were evil and started worshipping other gods.

₁₉Moses and Joshua, I am going to give you the words to a new song. Write them down and teach the song to the Israelites. If they learn it, they will know what I want them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me. ₂₀I am bringing them into the land that I promised their ancestors. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and the Israelites will have more than enough food to eat. But they will get fat and turn their backs on me and start worshipping other gods. The Israelites will reject me and break the agreement that I made with them.

₂₁When I punish the Israelites and their descendants with suffering and disasters, I will remind them that they know the words to this song, so they have no excuse for not obeying me.

I will give them the land that I promised, but I know the way they are going to live later on.

₂₂Moses wrote down the words to the song straight away, and he taught it to the Israelites.

₂₃The LORD told Joshua, “Be brave and strong! I will help you lead the people of Israel into the land that I have promised them.”

₂₄Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings in a book, ₂₅then he went to the Levites who carried the sacred chest and said:

₂₆This is The Book of God's Law. Keep it beside the sacred chest that holds the agreement the LORD your God made with Israel. This book is proof that you know what the LORD wants you to do. ₂₇I know how stubborn and rebellious you and the rest of the Israelites are. You have rebelled against the LORD while I have been alive, and it will only get worse after I am gone. ₂₈So call together the leaders and officials of the tribes of Israel. I will bring this book and read every word of it to you, and I will call the sky and the earth as witnesses that all of you know what you are supposed to do.

₂₉I am going to die soon, and I know that in the future you will stop caring about what is right and what is wrong, and so you will disobey the LORD and stop living the way I told you to live. The LORD will be angry, and terrible things will happen to you.

The song of Moses

₃₀Moses called a meeting of all the people of Israel, so he could teach them the words to the song that the LORD had given him. And here are the words:

Deuteronomy 32

₁Earth and Sky,

listen to what I say!

₂Israel, I will teach you.

My words will be like gentle rain

on tender young plants,

or like dew on the grass.

₃Join with me in praising

the wonderful name

of the LORD our God.

₄The LORD is a mighty rock,

and he never does wrong.

God can always be trusted

to bring justice.

₅But you lie and cheat

and are unfaithful to him.

You have disgraced yourselves

and are no longer worthy

to be his children.

₆Israel, the LORD is your Father,

the one who created you,

but you repaid him

by being foolish.

₇Think about past generations.

Ask your parents

or any of your elders.

They will tell you

₈that God Most High

gave land to every nation.

He assigned a guardian angel

to each of them,

₉but the LORD himself

takes care of Israel.

₁₀Israel, the LORD discovered you

in a barren desert

filled with howling winds.

God became your fortress,

protecting you as though

you were his own eyes.

₁₁The LORD was like an eagle

teaching its young to fly,

always ready to swoop down

and catch them on its back.

₁₂Israel, the LORD led you,

and without the aid

of a foreign god,

₁₃he helped you

capture the land.

Your fields were rich

with grain.

Olive trees grew

in your stony soil,

and honey was found

among the rocks.

₁₄Your flocks and herds

produced milk and yoghurt,

and you got choice meat

from your sheep and goats

that grazed in Bashan.

Your wheat was the finest,

and you drank the best wine.

₁₅Israel, you grew fat and rebelled

against God, your Creator;

you rejected the Mighty Rock,

your only place of safety.

₁₆You made God jealous and angry

by worshipping disgusting idols

and foreign gods.

₁₇You offered sacrifices

to demons, those useless gods

that never helped you,

new gods that your ancestors

never worshipped.

₁₈You turned away

from God, your Creator;

you forgot the Mighty Rock,

the source of your life.

₁₉You were the LORD's children,

but you made him angry.

Then he rejected you ₂₀and said,

“You are unfaithful

and can't be trusted.

So I won't answer your prayers;

I'll just watch and see

what happens to you.

₂₁You worshipped worthless idols,

and made me jealous

and angry!

Now I will send a cruel

and worthless nation

to make you jealous and angry.

₂₂“My people, I will breathe out fire

that sends you down

to the world of the dead.

It will scorch your farmlands

and burn deep down

under the mountains.

₂₃I'll send disaster after disaster

to strike you like arrows.

₂₄You'll be struck by starvation

and deadly diseases,

by the fangs of wild animals

and poisonous snakes.

₂₅Young and old alike

will be killed in the streets

and terrified at home.

₂₆“I wanted to scatter you,

so no one would remember

that you had ever lived.

₂₇But I dreaded the sound

of your enemies saying,

‘We defeated Israel with no help

from the LORD.’ ”

₂₈People of Israel,

that's what the LORD

has said to you.

But you don't have good sense,

and you never listen

to advice.

₂₉If you did, you could see

where you are headed.

₃₀How could one enemy soldier

chase a thousand

of Israel's troops?

Or how could two of theirs

pursue ten thousand of ours?

It can only happen if the LORD

stops protecting Israel

and lets the enemy win.

₃₁Even our enemies know

that only our God

is a Mighty Rock.

₃₂Our enemies are grapevines

rooted in the fields

of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The grapes they produce

are full of bitter poison;

₃₃their wine is more deadly

than cobra venom.

₃₄But the LORD has written

a list of their sins

and locked it in his vault.

₃₅Soon our enemies will get

what they deserve—

suddenly they will slip,

and total disaster

will quickly follow.

₃₆When only a few

of the LORD's people remain,

when their strength is gone,

and some of them are slaves,

the LORD will feel sorry for them

and give them justice.

₃₇But first the LORD will say,

“You ran for safety to other gods—

couldn't they help you?

₃₈You offered them wine

and your best sacrifices.

Can't those gods help you now

or give you protection?

₃₉Don't you understand?

I am the only God;

there are no others.

I am the one who takes life

and gives it again.

I punished you with suffering.

But now I will heal you,

and nothing can stop me!

₄₀“I make this solemn promise:

just as I live for ever,

₄₁I will take revenge

on my hateful enemies.

I will sharpen my sword

and let it flash

like lightning.

₄₂My arrows will get drunk

on enemy blood;

my sword will taste the flesh

and the blood of the enemy.

It will kill prisoners,

and cut off the heads

of their leaders.”

₄₃Tell the heavens to celebrate

and all gods to bow down

to the LORD,

because he will take revenge

on those hateful enemies

who killed his people.

He will forgive the sins of Israel

and purify their land.

_44-45Moses spoke the words of the song so that all the Israelites could hear, and Joshua helped him. When Moses had finished, ₄₆he said, “Always remember this song I have taught you today. And let it be a warning that you must teach your children to obey everything written in The Book of God's Law. ₄₇The Law isn't empty words. It can give you a long life in the land that you are going to take.”

Moses sees the land and blesses the tribes of Israel

Moses will see the land

₄₈Later that day the LORD said to Moses:

₄₉Go up into the Abarim Mountain range here in Moab across the Jordan valley from Jericho. And when you reach the top of Mount Nebo, you will be able to see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Israel. ₅₀Then you will die and be buried on the mountaintop, just as your brother Aaron died and was buried on Mount Hor. ₅₁Both of you were unfaithful to me at Meribah Spring near Kadesh in the Zin Desert. I am God, but there in front of the Israelites, you did not treat me with the honour and respect I deserve. ₅₂So I will give the land to the people of Israel, but you will only get to see it from a distance.

Deuteronomy 31:1-32:52CEVOpen in Bible reader

Mark 12

Paying taxes

₁₃The Pharisees got together with Herod's followers. Then they sent some men to trick Jesus into saying something wrong. ₁₄They went to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. And you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”

₁₅Jesus knew what they were up to, and he said, “Why are you trying to test me? Show me a coin!”

₁₆They brought him a silver coin, and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”

“The Emperor's,” they answered.

₁₇Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” The men were amazed at Jesus.

Life in the future world

₁₈The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus and said:

₁₉Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother. ₂₀There were once seven brothers. The first one married, but died without having any children. ₂₁The second brother married his brother's widow, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother, ₂₂and finally to all seven brothers. At last the woman died. ₂₃When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? After all, she had been married to all seven brothers.

₂₄Jesus answered:

You are completely wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures teach. And you don't know anything about the power of God. ₂₅When God raises people to life, they won't marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. ₂₆You know about people being raised to life. You know that in the story about Moses and the burning bush, God said, “I am the God worshipped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ₂₇He isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. You Sadducees are all wrong.

The most important commandment

₂₈One of the teachers of the Law of Moses came up while Jesus and the Sadducees were arguing. When he heard Jesus give a good answer, he asked him, “What is the most important commandment?”

₂₉Jesus answered, “The most important one says: ‘People of Israel, you have only one Lord and God. ₃₀You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.’ ₃₁The second most important commandment says: ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is more important than these.”

₃₂The man replied, “Teacher, you are certainly right to say there is only one God. ₃₃It is also true that we must love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and that we must love others as much as we love ourselves. These commandments are more important than all the sacrifices and offerings that we could possibly make.”

₃₄When Jesus saw that the man had given a sensible answer, he told him, “You are not far from God's kingdom.” After this, no one dared ask Jesus any more questions.

Mark 12:13-34CEVOpen in Bible reader