Deuteronomy 17 - 18

“You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep which has a defect or any blemish, for that is an abominable thing to Yahweh your God. 2 “If there is found in your midst, in any of your gates of the towns which Yahweh your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, by trespassing against His covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, 4 and if it is told to you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the matter is confirmed that this abomination has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them, and they will die. 6 On the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the mouth of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Judging Cases

8 “If any case is too difficult for you to judge, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. 9 So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the judgment in the case. 10 And you shall do according to the terms of the judgment which they declare to you from that place which Yahweh chooses; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they teach you. 11 According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. 12 And the man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to minister to Yahweh your God, or to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.

Statutes for the King

14 “When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses, one from among your brothers you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your brother. 16 Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. Yahweh has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 And he shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. 18 “Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Levites

“The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat of the offerings to Yahweh by fire and of His inheritance. 2 And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; Yahweh is their inheritance, as He promised them. 3 “Now this shall be the legal judgment for the priests taken from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4 You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine and your oil and the first shearing of your sheep. 5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh all the days. 6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your gates of the towns throughout Israel where he sojourns and comes whenever he desires to the place which Yahweh chooses, 7 then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before Yahweh. 8 They shall eat equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Do Not Imitate Abominations

9 “When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices soothsaying or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, 11 or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God. 14 For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice soothsaying and to diviners, but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do so.

Yahweh Will Raise Up a Prophet

15 “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers; you shall listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of Yahweh your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God; let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 And Yahweh said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up a prophet from among their brothers like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And it will be that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

1 Corinthians 11 - 12

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

Head Coverings

2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying, shames his head. 5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying, shames her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. 6 For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut short. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut short or her head shaved, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. 8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. 9 For indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman, but all things originate from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.

The Lord’s Supper

17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must test himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will direct when I come.

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were being led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 And there are varieties of workings, but the same God who works everything in everyone. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to someone else faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to someone else various kinds of tongues, and to another the translation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For also by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For also the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has appointed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, how much more is it that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, 23 and those members of the body which we think as less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, 24 whereas our more presentable members have no such need. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all translate? 31 But you earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I will yet show you a more excellent way.

Psalm 113 - 114

Who Is like Yahweh Our God?

Praise Yah!

Praise, O slaves of Yahweh,

Praise the name of Yahweh.

May the name of Yahweh be blessed

From now until forever.

From the rising of the sun to its setting

The name of Yahweh is to be praised.

Yahweh is high above all nations;

His glory is above the heavens.

Who is like Yahweh our God,

The One who sits on high,

The One who brings Himself low to see

The things in heaven and on the earth?

Who raises the poor from the dust

And lifts high the needy from the ash heap,

To make them sit with nobles,

With the nobles of His people.

He makes the barren woman of the house sit

As a glad mother of children.

Praise Yah!

When Israel Went Out from Egypt

When Israel went out from Egypt,

The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

Judah became His sanctuary,

Israel, His dominion.

The sea looked and fled;

The Jordan turned back.

The mountains skipped like rams,

The hills, like lambs.

What disturbs you, O sea, that you flee?

O Jordan, that you turn back?

O mountains, that you skip like rams?

O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, before the Lord,

Before the God of Jacob,

Who turned the rock into a pool of water,

The flint into a spring of water.