Deuteronomy 23 - 24, 2 Corinthians 1 - 2, Psalm 118

Those Who May Not Enter the Assembly

23“^aNo one who is ¹emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of Yahweh. ²“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. ³“^aNo 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, ⁴^abecause they did not meet you with ¹food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you ^bBalaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ²Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵“Nevertheless, Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but Yahweh your God ^aturned the curse into a blessing for you because Yahweh your God ^bloves you. ⁶“^aYou shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

⁷“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for ^ahe is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, ^bfor you were a sojourner in his land. ⁸“The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of Yahweh.

⁹“When you go out as ¹an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

¹⁰“^aIf there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not ¹reenter the camp. ¹¹“But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ¹reenter the camp.

¹²“You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, ¹³and you shall have a ¹spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn ²to cover up your excrement. ¹⁴“Since ^aYahweh 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 ^bholy; and He must not see ¹anything indecent among you, ²or He will turn away from you.

¹⁵“^aYou shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ¹escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶“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; ^ayou shall not mistreat him.

¹⁷“^aNone of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, ^bnor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸“You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a ¹^,^adog into the house of Yahweh your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

¹⁹“^aYou shall not charge interest to your brother: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. ²⁰“^aYou may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, so that ^bYahweh your God may bless you in all ¹that you send forth your hand to do in the land which you are about to enter to ²possess.

²¹“^aWhen 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. ²²“However, if you refrain from vowing, it will not be a sin in you. ²³“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.

²⁴“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes ¹until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your ²basket.

²⁵“^aWhen 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.

Statutes About Divorce

24“If a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens ¹that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^aindecency in her, and ^bhe writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, ²and she goes out of his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³and if the latter husband ¹turns 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, ⁴then her ^aformer 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.

⁵“^aWhen 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 ^bgive gladness to his wife whom he has taken.

Remember You Were Slaves in Egypt

⁶“No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge.

⁷“^aIf a man is ¹caught 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.

⁸“^aTake care against ¹an 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. ⁹“Remember what Yahweh your God did ^ato Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰“^aWhen you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his deposit. ¹¹“You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the deposit out to you. ¹²“Now if he is an afflicted man, you shall not sleep with his deposit. ¹³“^aWhen the sun goes down you shall surely return the deposit to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and ^bit will be righteousness for you before Yahweh your God.

¹⁴“^aYou shall not oppress a hired person who is afflicted and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of your sojourners who is in your land within your gates. ¹⁵“^aYou shall give him his wages on his day ¹before the sun goes down, for he is afflicted and sets his soul on it, so that ^bhe will not cry against you to Yahweh and it become sin in you.

¹⁶“^aFathers shall not be put to death ¹for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death ²for their fathers; each shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷“^aYou shall not pervert the justice ¹due a sojourner or ²an orphan, nor ^btake a widow’s garment in pledge. ¹⁸“But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that Yahweh your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹“^aWhen you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be ^bfor the sojourner, for the ¹orphan, and for the widow, in order that Yahweh your God ^cmay bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰“^aWhen you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs after you finish; it shall be ^bfor the sojourner, for the ¹orphan, and for the widow.

²¹“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it after you finish; it shall be for the sojourner, for the ¹orphan, and for the widow. ²²“And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

God of All Comfort

1Paul, ^aan apostle of ^bChrist Jesus ^cby the will of God, and ^dTimothy our brother, To ^ethe church of God which is at ^fCorinth with all the ¹saints who are throughout Achaia:

²^aGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³^aBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and ^bGod of all comfort, ⁴who ^acomforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in ¹any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵For just ^aas the sufferings of Christ abound to us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶But whether we are afflicted, it is ^afor your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is working in your perseverance in the same sufferings which we also suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that ^aas you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

⁸For ^awe do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of our ^baffliction which came to us in ¹^,^cAsia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even to live. ⁹¹Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not have confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; ¹⁰who ^arescued us from so great a peril of death, and will rescue us, ¹He ^bon whom we have set our hope. And He will yet rescue us, ¹¹you also joining in ^ahelping us through your prayers on our behalf, so that thanks may be given on our behalf by ^bmany persons for the gracious gift bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

¹²For our boasting is this: the testimony of ^aour conscience, that in ¹holiness and ^bgodly sincerity, ^cnot in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. ¹³For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand ^auntil the end, ¹⁴just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason for boasting as you also are ours, in ^athe day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵And in this confidence I intended at first to ^acome to you, so that you might receive ¹^,^bgrace twice; ¹⁶¹that is, to ^apass ²your way into ^bMacedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be ^chelped on my journey to Judea. ¹⁷Therefore, was I vacillating when I intended to do this? Or what I purpose, do I purpose ^aaccording to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time? ¹⁸But as ^aGod is faithful, ^bour word to you is not yes and no. ¹⁹For ^athe Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and ^bSilvanus and ^cTimothy—was not yes and no, but has become yes ^din Him. ²⁰For ^aas many as are the promises of God, ^bin Him they are yes. Therefore also through Him is ^cour Amen to the glory of God through us. ²¹Now He who ^aestablishes us with you in Christ and ^banointed us is God, ²²who also ^asealed us and ^bgave the ¹pledge of the Spirit in our hearts.

²³But ^aI call God as witness ¹to my soul, that ^bto spare you I did not come again to ^cCorinth. ²⁴Not that we ^alord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are ^bstanding firm.

2But I determined this ¹for my own sake, that I ^awould not come to you again in sorrow. ²For if I ^acause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? ³And this is the very thing I ^awrote you, so that ^bwhen I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having ^cconfidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I ^awrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have abundantly for you.

Forgive and Love the Sinner

⁵But ^aif any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—¹in order not to say too much—to all of you. ⁶Sufficient for such a one is ^athis punishment which was inflicted by the majority, ⁷so that on the contrary you should rather ^agraciously forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow. ⁸Therefore I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹For to this end also ^aI wrote, so that I might ^bknow your proven character, whether you are ^cobedient in all things. ¹⁰But one whom you graciously forgive anything, I graciously forgive also. For indeed what I have graciously forgiven, if I have graciously forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes ^ain the presence of Christ, ¹¹so that no advantage would be taken of us by ^aSatan, for ^bwe are not ignorant of his schemes.

¹²Now when I came to ^aTroas for the ^bgospel of Christ and when a ^cdoor was opened for me in the Lord, ¹³I ^ahad no rest for my spirit, not finding ^bTitus my brother. But ^csaying farewell to them, I went on to ^dMacedonia.

¹⁴^aBut thanks be to God, who always ^bleads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and manifests through us the ^caroma of the ^dknowledge of Him in every place. ¹⁵For we are a ^afragrance of Christ to God among ^bthose who are being saved and among those who are perishing; ¹⁶^ato the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is ^bsufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not like many, ¹^,^apeddling the word of God, but ^bas from sincerity, but as from God, ^cin the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

Yahweh’s Lovingkindness Endures Forever

118^aGive thanks to Yahweh, for ^bHe is good;For His lovingkindness endures forever.²Oh let ^aIsrael say,“His lovingkindness endures forever.”³Oh let the ^ahouse of Aaron say,“His lovingkindness endures forever.”⁴Oh let those ^awho ¹fear Yahweh say,“His lovingkindness endures forever.”⁵From my ^adistress I called upon Yah;Yah answered me and ^bset me in a large place.⁶Yahweh is ^afor me; I will ^bnot fear;^cWhat can man do to me?⁷Yahweh is for me ^aamong those who help me;Therefore I will ^blook in triumph on those who hate me.⁸It is ^abetter to take refuge in YahwehThan to trust in man.⁹It is ^abetter to take refuge in YahwehThan to trust in nobles.¹⁰All nations ^asurrounded me;In the name of Yahweh I will surely ^bcut them off.¹¹They ^asurrounded me, indeed, they surrounded me;In the name of Yahweh I will surely cut them off.¹²They surrounded me ^alike bees;They were extinguished as a ^bfire of thorns;In the name of Yahweh I will surely cut them off.¹³You ^apushed me down violently to make me fall,But Yahweh ^bhelped me.¹⁴^aYah is my strength and song,And He has become ^bmy salvation.¹⁵The sound of ^ajoyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous;The ^bright hand of Yahweh does valiantly.¹⁶The ^aright hand of Yahweh is exalted;The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly.¹⁷I ^awill not die; indeed I will live,And ^brecount the works of Yah.¹⁸Yah has ^adisciplined me severely,But He has ^bnot given me over to death.¹⁹^aOpen to me the gates of righteousness;I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to Yah.²⁰This is the gate of Yahweh;The ^arighteous will enter through it.²¹I shall give thanks to You, for You have ^aanswered me,And You have ^bbecome my salvation.²²The ^astone which the builders rejectedHas become the chief corner stone.²³This is from Yahweh;It is marvelous in our eyes.²⁴This is the day which Yahweh has made;Let us ^arejoice and be glad in it.²⁵O Yahweh, ^asave!O Yahweh, ^bsucceed!²⁶^aBlessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh;We have ^bblessed you from the house of Yahweh.²⁷^aYahweh is God, and He has given us ^blight;Bind the festival sacrifice with cords ¹to the ^chorns of the altar.²⁸^aYou are my God, and I give thanks to You;You are my God, ^bI exalt You.²⁹^aGive thanks to Yahweh, for He is good;For His lovingkindness endures forever.