Deuteronomy 17 - 18, 1 Corinthians 11 - 12, Psalms 113 - 114

17“^aYou shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep which has a defect or any ¹blemish, for that is an abominable thing to Yahweh your God.

²“^aIf 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, ³and has gone and ^aserved other gods and worshiped them, ^bor the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, ^cwhich I have not commanded, ⁴and 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, ⁵then 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 ^ayou shall stone them, and they will die. ⁶“^aOn 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“^aThe hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ^bSo you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Judging Cases

⁸“^aIf any case is too difficult for you to judge, between ¹one kind of homicide or another, between ²one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ³one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to ^bthe place which Yahweh your God chooses. ⁹“So you shall come to ^athe 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 ¹terms 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“^aAccording to the ¹terms 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 ^apresumptuously 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 ^apresumptuously again.

Statutes for the King

¹⁴“When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you ^apossess it and live in it, and you say, ‘^bI will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ ¹⁵you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses, one ^afrom among your brothers you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your brother. ¹⁶“^aMoreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he ^bcause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. ^cYahweh has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ ¹⁷“^aAnd he shall not multiply wives for himself, ¹or 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 ¹^,^ain the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹“And it shall be with him, and he shall read it ^aall the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, ¹to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers ^aand 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

18“^aThe 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“^aAnd they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; Yahweh is their inheritance, as He ¹promised them.

³“^aNow 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 ^afirst fruits of your grain, your new wine and your oil and the first shearing of your sheep. ⁵“^aFor Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to ^bstand 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 ^asojourns and comes ¹whenever he desires to the place which Yahweh chooses, ⁷then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before Yahweh. ⁸“^aThey shall eat ¹equal 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 ¹^,^aimitate the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰“There shall not be found among you anyone ^awho makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one ^bwho practices soothsaying or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, ¹¹or one who is an enchanter ^aor a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead. ¹²“For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and ^abecause of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you. ¹³“^aYou shall be ¹blameless before Yahweh your God. ¹⁴“For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who ^apractice 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“^aYahweh 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 ^aaccording 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“^aAnd Yahweh said to me, ‘They have ¹spoken well. ¹⁸‘I will raise up a prophet from among their brothers like you, and ^aI will put My words in his mouth, and ^bhe shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹‘^aAnd 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 ^apresumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^bwhich he speaks in the name of other gods, ¹that prophet shall die.’ ²¹“Now ¹you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’ ²²“^aWhen 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 ^bpresumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

11^aBe imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

Head Coverings

²Now ^aI praise you because you ^bremember me in everything and ^chold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. ³But I want you to understand that ¹Christ is the ^ahead of every man, and ^bthe man is the head of a woman, and God is the ^chead of ²Christ. ⁴Every man who has something on his head while praying or ^aprophesying, shames his head. ⁵But every ^awoman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying, shames her head, for she is one and the same as the woman ¹whose head is ^bshaved. ⁶For if a woman does not cover ¹her head, let her also ²have her hair cut short. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to ³have her hair cut short or ⁴her head shaved, let her cover ⁵her head. ⁷For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the ^aimage and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. ⁸For ^aman ¹does not originate from woman, but woman from man. ⁹For indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but ^awoman for the man’s sake. ¹⁰Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. ¹¹Nevertheless, in the Lord, neither is woman ¹independent of man, nor is man ²independent of woman. ¹²For as the woman ¹originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman, but ^aall things ²originate ^bfrom God. ¹³^aJudge ¹for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, ¹⁵but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering. ¹⁶But if one is inclined to be contentious, ^awe have no ¹other practice, nor have ^bthe churches of God.

The Lord’s Supper

¹⁷But in giving this instruction, ^aI do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸For, in the first place, when you come together ¹as a church, I hear that ²^,^adivisions exist among you, and in part I believe it. ¹⁹For there ^amust also be factions among you, ^bso that those who are approved may become ¹evident among you. ²⁰Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, ²¹for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and ^aanother is drunk. ²²For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the ^achurch of God and ^bshame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall ^cI praise you? In this I will not praise you.

²³For ^aI received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that ^bthe Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, ²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁵In the same way He took ^athe cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the ^bnew covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord ^auntil He comes.

²⁷Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be ^aguilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸But a man must ^atest himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. ³⁰For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number ¹^,^asleep. ³¹But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. ³²But when we are judged, we are ^adisciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with ^bthe world.

³³So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. ³⁴If anyone is ^ahungry, let him eat ^bat home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will ^cdirect ^dwhen I come.

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

12Now concerning ^aspiritual gifts, brothers, ^bI do not want you to be ignorant. ²^aYou know that when you were pagans, you were ^bbeing led astray to the ^cmute idols, however you were led. ³Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking ¹^,^aby the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is ²^,^baccursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is ^cLord,” except ³^,^dby the Holy Spirit.

⁴Now there are ^avarieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. ⁶And there are varieties of workings, but the same ^aGod who works everything in everyone. ⁷But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit ^afor what is profitable. ⁸For to one is given the word of ^awisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of ^bknowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹to someone else ^afaith ¹by the same Spirit, and to another ^bgifts of ²healing ³by the one Spirit, ¹⁰and to another the workings of ^amiracles, and to another ^bprophecy, and to another the ¹^,^cdistinguishing of spirits, to someone else various ^dkinds of tongues, and to another the ²^,^etranslation of tongues. ¹¹But one and the same Spirit works all these things, ^adistributing to each one individually just as He wills.

¹²For even ^aas the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, ^bso also is Christ. ¹³For also ¹^,^aby one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether ^bJews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to ^cdrink of one Spirit.

¹⁴For also ^athe body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason ¹any the less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason ¹any the less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But now God has ^aappointed the members, each one of them, in the body, ^bjust as He desired. ¹⁹And if they were all one member, where would the body be? ²⁰But now ^athere are many members, but one body. ²¹And 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.” ²²On the contrary, how much more is it that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, ²³and those members of the body which we think as less honorable, ¹on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, ²⁴whereas our more presentable members have no such need. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, ²⁵so that there may be no ¹division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is ¹honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷Now you are ^aChrist’s body, and ^bindividually members of it. ²⁸And God has ¹^,^aappointed in ^bthe church, first ^capostles, second ^dprophets, third ^eteachers, then ²^,^fmiracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of ¹miracles? ³⁰Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all ¹^,^atranslate? ³¹But ¹you ^aearnestly desire the greater gifts. And I will yet show you a more excellent way.

Who Is like Yahweh Our God?

113¹Praise Yah!^aPraise, O ^bslaves of Yahweh,Praise the name of Yahweh.²^aMay the name of Yahweh be blessedFrom now until forever.³^aFrom the rising of the sun to its settingThe ^bname of Yahweh is to be praised.⁴Yahweh is ^ahigh above all nations;His ^bglory is above the heavens.⁵^aWho is like Yahweh our God,The One who ^bsits on high,⁶The One who ¹^,^abrings Himself low to seeThe things in heaven and on the earth?⁷Who ^araises the poor from the dustAnd lifts high the needy from the ash heap,⁸To make them ^asit with ¹nobles,With the ²nobles of His people.⁹He ^amakes the barren woman of the house sitAs a glad mother of children.¹Praise Yah!

When Israel Went Out from Egypt

114When Israel went out ^afrom Egypt,The house of Jacob from a people of ^bstrange language,²Judah became ^aHis sanctuary,Israel, ^bHis dominion.³The ^asea looked and fled;The ^bJordan turned back.⁴The mountains ^askipped like rams,The hills, like lambs.⁵What ^adisturbs you, O sea, that you flee?O Jordan, that you turn back?⁶O mountains, that you skip like rams?O hills, like lambs?⁷^aTremble, O earth, before the Lord,Before the God of Jacob,⁸Who ^aturned the rock into a ^bpool of water,The ^cflint into a spring of water.