DEUTERONOMY 1

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Israel’s History after the Exodus  1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD had commanded him to give to them, 4 after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,
    6 “The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.’
    9 “I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. 10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11 May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, just as He has promised you! 12 How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife? 13 Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14 You answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes.
    16 “Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. 17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
    19 “Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the LORD our God is about to give us. 21 See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
    22 “Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.’ 23 The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24 They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25 Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, ‘It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.’
    26 “Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; 27 and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. 30 The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32 But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, 33 who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
    34 “Then the LORD heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, 35 ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the LORD fully.’ 37 The LORD was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.’
    41 “Then you said to me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD; we will indeed go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ And every man of you girded on his weapons of war, and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42 And the LORD said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated before your enemies.”’ 43 So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you. 46 So you remained in Kadesh many days, the days that you spent there.

PSALM 65

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God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Man.For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
65:1 There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God,

And to You the vow will be performed.

2 O You who hear prayer,

To You all men come.

3 Iniquities prevail against me;

As for our transgressions, You forgive them.

4 How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You

To dwell in Your courts.

We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,

Your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation,

You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;

6 Who establishes the mountains by His strength,

Being girded with might;

7 Who stills the roaring of the seas,

The roaring of their waves,

And the tumult of the peoples.

8 They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

9 You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;

You greatly enrich it;

The stream of God is full of water;

You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth.

10 You water its furrows abundantly,

You settle its ridges,

You soften it with showers,

You bless its growth.

11 You have crowned the year with Your bounty,

And Your paths drip with fatness.

12 The pastures of the wilderness drip,

And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.

13 The meadows are clothed with flocks

And the valleys are covered with grain;

They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

PSALM 66

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Praise for God’s Mighty Deeds and for His Answer to Prayer.For the choir director. A Song. A Psalm.
66:1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;

2 Sing the glory of His name;

Make His praise glorious.

3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!

Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You.

4 “All the earth will worship You,

And will sing praises to You;

They will sing praises to Your name.” Selah.

5 Come and see the works of God,

Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.

6 He turned the sea into dry land;

They passed through the river on foot;

There let us rejoice in Him!

7 He rules by His might forever;

His eyes keep watch on the nations;

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8 Bless our God, O peoples,

And sound His praise abroad,

9 Who keeps us in life

And does not allow our feet to slip.

10 For You have tried us, O God;

You have refined us as silver is refined.

11 You brought us into the net;

You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins.

12 You made men ride over our heads;

We went through fire and through water,

Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.

13 I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings;

I shall pay You my vows,

14 Which my lips uttered

And my mouth spoke when I was in distress.

15 I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts,

With the smoke of rams;

I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah.

16 Come and hear, all who fear God,

And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

17 I cried to Him with my mouth,

And He was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I regard wickedness in my heart,

The Lord will not hear;

19 But certainly God has heard;

He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,

Who has not turned away my prayer

Nor His lovingkindness from me.

PROVERBS 5

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Pitfalls of Immorality5:1 My son, give attention to my wisdom,

Incline your ear to my understanding;

2 That you may observe discretion

And your lips may reserve knowledge.

3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey

And smoother than oil is her speech;

4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death,

Her steps take hold of Sheol.

6 She does not ponder the path of life;

Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

7 Now then, my sons, listen to me

And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8 Keep your way far from her

And do not go near the door of her house,

9 Or you will give your vigor to others

And your years to the cruel one;

10 And strangers will be filled with your strength

And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien;

11 And you groan at your final end,

When your flesh and your body are consumed;

12 And you say, “How I have hated instruction!

And my heart spurned reproof!

13 “I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!

14 “I was almost in utter ruin

In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

15 Drink water from your own cistern

And fresh water from your own well.

16 Should your springs be dispersed abroad,

Streams of water in the streets?

17 Let them be yours alone

And not for strangers with you.

18 Let your fountain be blessed,

And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 As a loving hind and a graceful doe,

Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;

Be exhilarated always with her love.

20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress

And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD,

And He watches all his paths.

22 His own iniquities will capture the wicked,

And he will be held with the cords of his sin.

23 He will die for lack of instruction,

And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.