Wednesday, 15 Elul 5784 / September 18, 2024
Day 627 Readings
Torah: Parshat Ki Tavo, 4th Portion (Devarim (Deuteronomy) 27:1-27:10)
(Deuteronomy) 27:1-10
English Standard Version Par ▾
The Altar on Mount Ebal
1 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. 2And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; 6 you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut a stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
Curses from Mount Ebal
9Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”
Bible Study Together
Jeremiah 32:16-44
Jeremiah Prays and God Explains
16 "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, then I prayed to the LORD, saying,
17 'Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,
18 who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name;
19 great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;
20 who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as at this day.
21 'You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror;
22 and gave them this land, which You swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23 'They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made all this calamity come upon them.
24 'Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because * of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it.
25 'You have said to me, O Lord GOD, "Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses "-although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.' "
26 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything * too difficult for Me?"
28 Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.
29 "The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses where people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.
30 "Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands," declares the LORD.
31 "Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before My face,
32 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger -they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 "They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction.
34 "But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.
35 "They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom * to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 "Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence.'
37 "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.
38 "They shall be My people, and I will be their God;
39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always *, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
40 "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.
41 "I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
42 "For thus says the LORD, 'Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.
43 'Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, "It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."
44 'Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,' declares the LORD."
Acts 13:13-43
13 Now Paul and his companions * put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
14 But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brethren *, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it."
16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:
17 "The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.
18 "For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.
19 "When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance -all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.
20 "After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
21 "Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
22 "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, 'I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.'
23 "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,
24 after John had proclaimed before His coming * a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
25 "And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
26 "Brethren *, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.
27 "For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.
28 "And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.
29 "When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.
30 "But God raised Him from the dead;
31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.
32 "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers,
33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.'
34 "As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: 'I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.'
35 "Therefore He also says in another Psalm, 'YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.'
36 "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;
37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.
38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren *, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
40 "Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:
41 'BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER * BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.' "
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath.
43 Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.
ESV Readings
Scripture
Psalms 47
NASB
1 O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy.
2 For the LORD Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.
3 He subdues peoples under us And nations under our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.
5 God has ascended with a shout, The LORD , with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm.
8 God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.
9 The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham, For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.
2 Samuel 7
Ezekiel 7
Luke 11:37-54
37 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.
38 When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.
39 But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.
40 "You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
41 "But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.
42 "But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
43 "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.
44 "Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it."
45 One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, "Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too."
46 But He said, "Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
47 "Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
48 "So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
49 "For this reason also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute,
50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.'
52 "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering."
53 When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects,
54 plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say .
Luke 12:1-12
1 Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, " Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. .
2 "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
3 "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.
4 "I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.
5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!
6 "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
7 "Indeed , the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
8 "And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God;
9 but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
10 "And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.
11 "When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say;
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."