Deuteronomy 25-27 251 If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. 2 It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. 3 He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more, lest if he should give more and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight. 4 You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain. 5 If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel. 7 If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.” 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him. If he stands and says, “I don’t want to take her,” 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall answer and say, “So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.” 10 His name shall be called in Israel, “The house of him who had his sandal removed.” 11 When men strive against each other, and the wife of one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts out her hand, and grabs him by his private parts, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 13 You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. 14 You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 16 For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God. 17 Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt; 18 how he met you by the way, and struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. You shall not forget. 261 It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.” 4 The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Yahweh your God’s altar. 5 You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6 The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7 Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9 and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God. 11 You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you. 12 When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled. 13 You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 16 Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. 18 Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. 19 He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken. 271 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 2 It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. 3 You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster. 5 There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. 6 You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God. 7 You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God. 8 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.” 9 Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God. 10 You shall therefore obey Yahweh your God’s voice, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” 11 Moses commanded the people the same day, saying, 12 “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 With a loud voice, the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel, 15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ 16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 17 ‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 18 ‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 19 ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 20 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 21 ‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 22 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 23 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 24 ‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 25 ‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 26 ‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ”

Psalms 69:1-18 691 Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 3 I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God. 4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away. 5 God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you. 6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel. 7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children. 9 For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. 10 When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. 11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. 12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards. 13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation. 14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. 15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me. 16 Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me. 17 Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily! 18 Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.

Matthew 27:32-44 2732 As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross. 33 When they came to a place called “Golgotha”, that is to say, “The place of a skull,” 34 they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall. When he had tasted it, he would not drink. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots, 36 and they sat and watched him there. 37 They set up over his head the accusation against him written, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 38 Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left. 39 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” 41 Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, 42 “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44 The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.

Romans 14:14-23 1414 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Then don’t let your good be slandered, 17 for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. 20 Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. 21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;