DEUTERONOMY 25

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Sundry Laws  25:1 “If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. 3 He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes.
    4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.
    5 “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. 7 But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’
    11 “If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.
    13 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the LORD your God.
    17 “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall come about when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

DEUTERONOMY 26

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Offering First Fruits  26:1 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name. 3 You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. 5 You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; 8 and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders; 9 and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God; 11 and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household.
    12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 You shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments. 14 I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.’
    16 “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. 18 The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; 19 and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken.”

PROVERBS 30

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The Words of Agur  30:1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle.
    The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

2 Surely I am more stupid than any man,

And I do not have the understanding of a man.

3 Neither have I learned wisdom,

Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

4 Who has ascended into heaven and descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name or His son’s name?

Surely you know!

5 Every word of God is tested;

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

6 Do not add to His words

Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

7 Two things I asked of You,

Do not refuse me before I die:

8 Keep deception and lies far from me,

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

Feed me with the food that is my portion,

9 That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?”

Or that I not be in want and steal,

And profane the name of my God.

10 Do not slander a slave to his master,

Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.

11 There is a kind of man who curses his father

And does not bless his mother.

12 There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes,

Yet is not washed from his filthiness.

13 There is a kind--oh how lofty are his eyes!

And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.

14 There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords

And his jaw teeth like knives,

To devour the afflicted from the earth

And the needy from among men.

15 The leech has two daughters,

“Give,” “Give.”

There are three things that will not be satisfied,

Four that will not say, “Enough”:

16 Sheol, and the barren womb,

Earth that is never satisfied with water,

And fire that never says, “Enough.”

17 The eye that mocks a father

And scorns a mother,

The ravens of the valley will pick it out,

And the young eagles will eat it.

18 There are three things which are too wonderful for me,

Four which I do not understand:

19 The way of an eagle in the sky,

The way of a serpent on a rock,

The way of a ship in the middle of the sea,

And the way of a man with a maid.

20 This is the way of an adulterous woman:

She eats and wipes her mouth,

And says, “I have done no wrong.”

21 Under three things the earth quakes,

And under four, it cannot bear up:

22 Under a slave when he becomes king,

And a fool when he is satisfied with food,

23 Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband,

And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.

24 Four things are small on the earth,

But they are exceedingly wise:

25 The ants are not a strong people,

But they prepare their food in the summer;

26 The shephanim are not mighty people,

Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

27 The locusts have no king,

Yet all of them go out in ranks;

28 The lizard you may grasp with the hands,

Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

29 There are three things which are stately in their march,

Even four which are stately when they walk:

30 The lion which is mighty among beasts

And does not retreat before any,

31 The strutting rooster, the male goat also,

And a king when his army is with him.

32 If you have been foolish in exalting yourself

Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.

33 For the churning of milk produces butter,

And pressing the nose brings forth blood;

So the churning of anger produces strife.

PSALM 37

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Security of Those Who Trust in the LORD, and Insecurity of the Wicked.A Psalm of David.
37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

2 For they will wither quickly like the grass

And fade like the green herb.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light

And your judgment as the noonday.

7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath;

Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.

9 For evildoers will be cut off,

But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

10 Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;

And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.

11 But the humble will inherit the land

And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

12 The wicked plots against the righteous

And gnashes at him with his teeth.

13 The Lord laughs at him,

For He sees his day is coming.

14 The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow

To cast down the afflicted and the needy,

To slay those who are upright in conduct.

15 Their sword will enter their own heart,

And their bows will be broken.

16 Better is the little of the righteous

Than the abundance of many wicked.

17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken,

But the LORD sustains the righteous.

18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless,

And their inheritance will be forever.

19 They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,

And in the days of famine they will have abundance.

20 But the wicked will perish;

And the enemies of the LORD will be like the glory of the pastures,

They vanish--like smoke they vanish away.

21 The wicked borrows and does not pay back,

But the righteous is gracious and gives.

22 For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,

But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

23 The steps of a man are established by the LORD,

And He delights in his way.

24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,

Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.

25 I have been young and now I am old,

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

Or his descendants begging bread.

26 All day long he is gracious and lends,

And his descendants are a blessing.

27 Depart from evil and do good,

So you will abide forever.

28 For the LORD loves justice

And does not forsake His godly ones;

They are preserved forever,

But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

29 The righteous will inherit the land

And dwell in it forever.

30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

And his tongue speaks justice.

31 The law of his God is in his heart;

His steps do not slip.

32 The wicked spies upon the righteous

And seeks to kill him.

33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand

Or let him be condemned when he is judged.

34 Wait for the LORD and keep His way,

And He will exalt you to inherit the land;

When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

35 I have seen a wicked, violent man

Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.

36 Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more;

I sought for him, but he could not be found.

37 Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright;

For the man of peace will have a posterity.

38 But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;

The posterity of the wicked will be cut off.

39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

He is their strength in time of trouble.

40 The LORD helps them and delivers them;

He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

Because they take refuge in Him.