1 These are the precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you, so that you may possess it during all the days that you shall walk upon the soil.
2 Overturn all the places where the nations, which you will possess, worshipped their gods on lofty mountains, and on hills, and under every leafy tree.
3 Scatter their altars and break their statues. Burn their sacred groves with fire and crush their idols. Abolish their names from those places.
4 But you shall not do the same to the Lord your God.
5 Instead, you shall approach the place which the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes, so that he may set his name there, and may dwell in that place.
6 And you shall offer, in that place, your holocausts and victims, the tithes and first-fruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of the cattle and of the sheep.
7 And you shall eat it there, in the sight of the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the things to which you shall set your hand: you and your household, which the Lord your God has blessed for you.
8 You shall not do there the things that we are doing here today: each one doing what seems good to himself.
9 For even until the present time, you did not arrive at the rest and the possession, which the Lord your God will give to you.
10 You shall cross over the Jordan, and you shall live in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, so that you may have rest from all the surrounding enemies, and so that you may live without any fear,
11 in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be in it. To that place, you shall bring all the things that I instruct you: holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands, and whatever is best among the gifts that you shall vow to the Lord.
12 In that place, you shall feast before the Lord your God: you, and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, as well as the Levite who dwells in your cities. For he has no other portion or possession among you.
13 Take care that you do not offer your holocausts in any place that you see.
14 Instead, you shall offer sacrifices in the place which the Lord will choose within one of your tribes, and you shall do whatsoever I instruct you.
15 So, if you wish to eat, and if the eating of flesh pleases you, then kill and eat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given to you, in your cities: you may eat it whether it is unclean, that is, having blemish or defect, or whether it is clean, that is, whole and without blemish, of the kind which is permitted to be offered, such as the roe deer and the stag.
16 Only the blood you shall not eat. Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water.
17 You may not eat in your towns the tithes of your crops, and your wine and oil, the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, nor anything which you will vow, or which you will offer spontaneously, nor the first-fruits of your hands.
18 But you shall eat these before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose: you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man servant and woman servant, and the Levite who dwells in your cities. And you shall rejoice and be refreshed in the sight of the Lord your God by all the things to which you will extend your hand.
19 Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at anytime while you are living in the land.
20 When the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires,
21 but if the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be there, is far away, you may kill, from your herds and your flocks which you will have, in the manner I have instructed to you, and you may eat in your towns, as it pleases you.
22 Just as the roe deer and the stag may be eaten, so also may you eat these: you may eat both the clean and the unclean alike.
23 Only beware of this: you may not eat the blood. For their blood is for the soul. And because of this, you must not eat the soul with the flesh.
24 Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water,
25 so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
26 But the things that you have sanctified and vowed to the Lord, you shall take up and bring to the place which the Lord will choose.
27 And you shall offer your oblations of flesh and of blood upon the altar of the Lord your God. You shall poor out the blood of your victims upon the altar. And you yourself shall eat the flesh.
28 Observe and heed all the things that I instruct to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, continually, when you will do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.
29 When the Lord your God will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live in their land,
30 be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’
31 You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.
32 What I command to you, this only shall you do, for the Lord. You may neither add nor subtract anything.”
1 If there will have arisen in your midst a prophet, or someone who claims that he had seen a dream, and if he will have predicted sign and portent,
2 and if what he has spoken happens, and he says to you, ‘Let us go and follow strange gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you, so that it may become clear whether or not you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and listen to his voice. Him shall you serve, and to him shall you cling.
5 But that prophet or forger of dreams shall be put to death. For he has spoken so as to turn you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt and who redeemed you from the house of servitude, and so as to cause you to wander from the way that the Lord your God has entrusted to you. And so shall you remove the evil from your midst.
6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your own son or daughter, or your wife who is in your bosom, or your friend, whom you love like your own soul, were willing to persuade you secretly, saying: ‘Let us go, and serve foreign gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,
7 gods from any of the surrounding nations, whether these are near or far away, from the beginning even to the end of the earth,
8 you should neither agree with him, nor listen to him. And your eye should not spare him so that you take pity on him and conceal him.
9 Instead, you shall put him to death promptly. Let your hand be upon him first, and after that, let the hands of all the people be sent forth.
10 He shall be killed by being overwhelmed with stones. For he was willing to draw you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude.
11 So may all of Israel, upon hearing this, be afraid, so that nothing like this will ever be done again.
12 If, in one of your cities which the Lord your God will give to you as a habitation, you hear someone say:
13 ‘The sons of Belial have departed from your midst, and they have persuaded the inhabitants of their city, and they have said: “Let us go, and serve strange gods,” ‘ which you have not known:
14 inquire carefully and diligently, seeking the truth of the matter. And if you find that what was said is certain, and that this abomination is a work which has been perpetrated,
15 you shall promptly strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. And you shall destroy it, along with all the things that are in it, even the flocks.
16 Then all the household goods which are there, you shall gather together in the midst of its streets, and you shall set fire to these, along with the city itself, so that you may consume everything for the Lord your God, and so that it may be an everlasting tomb. It shall no longer be built up.
17 And there shall remain nothing of that anathema in your hand, so that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may take pity on you, and may multiply you, just as he swore to your fathers,
18 when you will heed the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his precepts, which I am entrusting to you this day, so that you may do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.”
&
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying:
2 Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and lead them into the house of the Lord, into one of the halls of the treasuries. And you shall give them wine to drink.
3 And so I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the entire house of the Rechabites,
4 and I led them into the house of the Lord, to the treasury of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was near the treasury of the princes, above the storehouse of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, who was the guardian of the entrance.
5 And I placed before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls filled with wine, and chalices. And I said to them, “Drink wine.”
6 And they responded: “We will not drink wine. For Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, instructed us, saying: ‘You shall not drink wine, you and your sons, in perpetuity.
7 And you shall not build houses, and you shall not sow any seeds, and you shall not plant or have vineyards. Instead, you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are sojourners.’
8 Therefore, we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he has commanded us, so that we do not drink wine all our days, we and our wives, our sons and daughters.
9 And we do not build houses in which to live. And we do not have vineyard, or field, or seed to sow.
10 Instead, we live in tents, and we have been obedient in accord with all that Jonadab, our father, has instructed us.
11 But when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had ascended to our land, we said: ‘Come and let us enter into Jerusalem, before the face of the army of the Chaldeans, and before the face of the army of Syria.’ And we have remained in Jerusalem.”
12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
13 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not accept discipline, so that you obey my words, says the Lord?
14 The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, in which he instructed his sons, so that they would not drink wine, have prevailed. And they have not drunk wine, even to this day. For they have obeyed the instruction of their father. But I have spoken to you, rising and speaking from early morning, and you did not obey me.
15 And I have sent to you all my servants, the prophets, rising at first light, and sending, and saying: ‘Convert, each one from his wicked way, and make your intentions good. And do not choose to follow strange gods, nor shall you worship them. And then you shall live in the land which I gave to you and to your fathers.’ And yet you have not inclined your ear, and you have not heeded me.
16 So the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have remained firm in the commandment of their father, which he instructed to them, while this people has not been obedient to me.
17 For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead over Judah and over all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every evil that I have declared against them. For I have spoken to them, and they have not listened. I have called to them, and they have not responded to me.”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab, your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done all that he has instructed you,
19 because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: There will not be a man lacking from the stock of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, standing in my sight, for all days.”
11 He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers:
12 And their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names.
13 And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.
14 This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards they shall delight in their mouth.
15 They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory.
16 But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me.
17 Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased.
18 For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him.
19 For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him.
20 He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.
21 Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.
40 You also must be prepared. For the Son of man will return at an hour that you will not realize.”
41 Then Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or also to everyone?”
42 So the Lord said: “Who do you think is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his Lord has appointed over his family, in order to give them their measure of wheat in due time?
43 Blessed is that servant if, when his Lord will return, he will find him acting in this manner.
44 Truly I say to you, that he will appoint him over all that he possesses.
45 But if that servant will have said in his heart, ‘My Lord has made a delay in his return,’ and if he has begun to strike the men and women servants, and to eat and drink, and to be inebriated,
46 then the Lord of that servant will return on a day which he hoped not, and at an hour which he knew not. And he will separate him, and he will place his portion with that of the unfaithful.
47 And that servant, who knew the will of his Lord, and who did not prepare and did not act according to his will, will be beaten many times over.
48 Yet he who did not know, and who acted in a way that deserves a beating, will be beaten fewer times. So then, of all to whom much has been given, much will be required. And of those to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be asked.
49 I have come to cast a fire upon the earth. And what should I desire, except that it may be kindled?
50 And I have a baptism, with which I am to be baptized. And how I am constrained, even until it may be accomplished!
51 Do you think that I have come to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division.
52 For from this time on, there will be five in one house: divided as three against two, and as two against three.
53 A father will be divided against a son, and a son against his father; a mother against a daughter and a daughter against a mother; a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
54 And he also said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud rising from the setting of the sun, immediately you say, ‘A rain cloud is coming.’ And so it does.
55 And when a south wind is blowing, you say, ‘It will be hot.’ And so it is.
56 You hypocrites! You discern the face of the heavens, and of the earth, yet how is it that you do not discern this time?
57 And why do you not, even among yourselves, judge what is just?
58 So, when you are going with your adversary to the ruler, while you are on the way, make an effort to be freed from him, lest perhaps he may lead you to the judge, and the judge may deliver you to the officer, and the officer may cast you into prison.
59 I tell you, you will not depart from there, until you have paid the very last coin.”
