Apr 11th

“If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then turns against her,

and charges her with shameful deeds and brings forth against her a bad name and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her a virgin,’

then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.

Then the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he turned against her;

and behold, he has charged her with shameful deeds, saying, “I did not find your daughter a virgin.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city.

So the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him,

and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father because he brought forth a bad name against a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

“But if this charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin,

then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her, and she will die because she has committed a disgraceful act in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

“If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

“If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her,

then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them, and they will die; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

“But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die.

But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case.

When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

“If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are found,

then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days.

“A man shall not take his father’s wife so that he will not uncover his father’s skirt.

“No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of Yahweh.

No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation, none of his seed shall enter the assembly of Yahweh.

No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation, none of their seed shall ever enter the assembly of Yahweh,

because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

Nevertheless, Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because Yahweh your God loves you.

You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land.

The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of Yahweh.

“When you go out as an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

“If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not reenter the camp.

But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp.

“You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there,

and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement.

Since Yahweh your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies over to you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you, or He will turn away from you.

“You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your gates of the towns where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat him.

“None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of Yahweh your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

“You shall not charge interest to your brother: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest.

You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you send forth your hand to do in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

“When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it will be a sin in you.

However, if you refrain from vowing, it will not be a sin in you.

You shall be careful and do what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to Yahweh your God that which you spoke with your mouth.

“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket.

“When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

“If a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,

and she goes out of his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife,

and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,

then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before Yahweh, and you shall not bring sin on the land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.

“When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall give gladness to his wife whom he has taken.

“No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge.

“If a man is caught kidnapping any of his brothers of the sons of Israel, and he mistreats him or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.

“Take care against an infection of leprosy, to be very careful and to do according to all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

“When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his deposit.

You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the deposit out to you.

Now if he is an afflicted man, you shall not sleep with his deposit.

When the sun goes down you shall surely return the deposit to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before Yahweh your God.

And it happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Then He said to them, “Which of you has a friend and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,

for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;

and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot rise up and give you anything.’

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

But what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?

Or, if his son asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. Now it happened that when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled.

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

And others, testing Him, were seeking from Him a sign from heaven.

But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against itself falls.

But if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges.

But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed.

But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.