You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18

Leviticus 19-20

Leviticus 19

Idolatry Forbidden

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the entire congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God am holy.

3 Each one of you shall have reverence for his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

4 Do not turn to idols, nor make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

5 And if you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it at your own will. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the next day. If anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It will not be accepted, 8 but everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor

9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 You shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

11 You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

12 You shall not swear by my name falsely and profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

13 You shall not defraud your neighbor, nor rob him.
The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

15 You shall not be unjust in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great, but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.

16 You shall not go around slandering among your people.
You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.

17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall rebuke your neighbor forthrightly, so you will not share in his guilt.

18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Keep My Decrees

19 You shall keep my statutes.
You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals.
You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed.
Do not wear a garment made of interwoven linen and wool.

20 If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave girl, pledged to be married to another man and not ransomed or given her freedom, they shall be punished. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 He shall bring a ram as a trespass offering to the Lord, to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.

23 When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. For three years it shall be forbidden to you. It shall not be eaten. 24 But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise to the Lord. 25 In the fifth year you shall eat its fruit. This is so that it may yield the increase to you. I am the Lord your God.

26 You shall not eat any meat with the blood still in it. You shall not use enchantments, nor practice sorcery.

27 You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your head or clip off the edge of your beard.

28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor put any tattoo marks on yourself. I am the Lord.

29 Do not profane your daughter, to make her a prostitute, lest the land fall to prostitution and the land become full of wickedness.

30 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

31 Do not turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Do not seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

32 You shall rise before the gray head and honor the face of the elderly, and you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

33 If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

35 You shall not be unrighteousness in judgment, in measuring length, weight, or quantity. 36 You shall have just balances, just weights: just dry measurements and just liquid measurements. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 You shall observe all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them. I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 20

Punishments for Disobedience

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Moreover, you shall tell the Israelites, ‘Anyone of the Israelites or the strangers who live as foreigners in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone that person with rocks. 3 I also will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his offspring to Molech, to defile my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.

4 If the people of the land all hide their eyes from that person when he gives of his offspring to Molech and do not put him to death, 5 then I will set my face against that man and against his family and will cut him off, and all who play the prostitute after him to play the prostitute with Molech, from among their people.

6 The person that turns to those who are mediums and wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

7 Sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 You shall keep my statutes and do them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

9 For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon himself.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

10 The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

11 The man who lies with his father’s wife has brought shame to his father. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.

12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion. Their blood shall be upon themselves.

13 If a man lies with a man, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.

14 If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.

15 If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.

16 If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

17 If a man marries his sister—his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter—and they have sexual relations, it is a shameful thing. They shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has had sexual relations with his sister. He shall bear his punishment.

18 If a man lies with a woman having her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her blood flow, and she has also exposed it. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

19 You shall not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, nor with your father’s sister, for he will have exposed his own close relative. They shall bear their punishment. 20 If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has brought shame to his uncle. They shall bear their sin. They shall die childless.

21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

Keep All My Decrees

22 You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. 23 You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I am casting out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24 But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess; a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from other people.

25 You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean. You shall not make yourselves abominable by animal, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you as unclean for you.

26 You shall be holy to me, for I, the Lord, am holy, and have set you apart from the people, that you should be mine.

27 A man or a woman that is a medium or is a wizard shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with rocks. Their blood shall be upon themselves.”

Mark 8:11-38

The Pharisees Seek a Sign

11 The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven and testing him. 12 He sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

13 He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.

Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

14 They forgot to bring bread, and they did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. 15 He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

16 They reasoned with one another, saying, “It’s because we have no bread.”

17 Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why are you discussing that you have no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves among the 5,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?”
They told him, “Twelve.”

20 “When the seven loaves fed the 4,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?”
They told him, “Seven.”

21 He asked them, “Do you still not understand?”

A Blind Man Healed at Bethsaida

22 He came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took hold of the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. When he had spat on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything.

24 He looked up and said, “I see men as trees, walking.”

25 Then again Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes. He looked intently, and his sight was restored, and he saw everyone clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Do not go into into the village or tell anyone in the village.”

Peter’s Confession of Christ

27 Jesus went out with his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”

28 They told him, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others: one of the prophets.”

29 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

30 He commanded them that they should tell no one about him.

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection

31 He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

32 And he spoke openly, and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. 33 But he, turning around and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”

Take up Your Cross

34 He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? 37 For what will a man give in exchange for his life? 38 For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him, when he comes in his Father’s glory, with the holy angels.”

Psalm 42

As the Deer Pants for Water

For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah.

1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”

4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me,
how I used to go with the crowds, to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise, with a crowd that kept holy days.
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God!
For I shall yet praise him for the saving help of his presence.

6 My God, my soul is in despair within me.
Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls.
All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

8 The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime.
In the night his song shall be with me:
a prayer to the the Lord of my life.
9 I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me,
while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God! For I shall praise him still,
who is my savior and my God.

Proverbs 10:17

17 He is in the pathway to life who heeds correction,
but he who disregards correction leads others astray.

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