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Deuteronomy 15

Debts and the Poor.

1At the end of every seven-year period^* you shall have a remission of debts,^a

2and this is the manner of the remission. Creditors shall remit all claims on loans made to a neighbor, not pressing the neighbor, one who is kin, because the LORD’s remission has been proclaimed.

3You may press a foreigner, but you shall remit the claim on what your kin owes to you.^b

4^c However, since the LORD, your God, will bless you abundantly in the land the LORD, your God, will give you to possess as a heritage, there shall be no one of you in need

5if you but listen to the voice of the LORD, your God, and carefully observe this entire commandment which I enjoin on you today.

6Since the LORD, your God, will bless you as he promised, you will lend to many nations, and borrow from none;^d you will rule over many nations, and none will rule over you.

7^e If one of your kindred is in need in any community in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand against your kin who is in need.

8Instead, you shall freely open your hand and generously lend what suffices to meet that need.^f

9Be careful not to entertain the mean thought, “The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,” so that you would begrudge your kin who is in need and give nothing, and your kin would cry to the LORD against you and you would be held guilty.^g

10When you give, give generously and not with a stingy heart; for that, the LORD, your God, will bless you in all your works and undertakings.

11The land will never lack for needy persons; that is why I command you: “Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land.”^h

Hebrew Slaves.

12ⁱ If your kin, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself or herself to you, he or she is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall release him or her as a free person.

13^j When you release a male from your service, as a free person, you shall not send him away empty-handed,

14but shall weigh him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press; as the LORD, your God, has blessed you, so you shall give to him.

15For remember that you too were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, redeemed you. That is why I am giving you this command today.^k

16^l But if he says to you, “I do not wish to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,

17you shall take an awl and put it through his ear^* into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. Your female slave, also, you shall treat in the same way.

18Do not be reluctant when you let them go free, since the service they have given you for six years was worth twice a hired laborer’s salary; and the LORD, your God, will bless you in everything you do.

Firstlings.

19^m You shall consecrate to the LORD, your God, every male firstling born in your herd and in your flock. You shall not work the firstlings of your cattle, nor shear the firstlings of your flock.

20In the presence of the LORD, your God, you shall eat them year after year, you and your household, in the place that the LORD will choose.ⁿ

21^o But if a firstling has any defect, lameness or blindness, any such serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD, your God,

22but in your own communities you may eat it, the unclean and the clean eating it together, as you would a gazelle or a deer.

23Only, you must not eat of its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 16

Feast of the Passover.

1Observe the month of Abib^* by keeping the Passover of the LORD, your God,^a since it was in the month of Abib that the LORD, your God, brought you out of Egypt by night.

2You shall offer the Passover sacrifice from your flock and your herd to the LORD, your God, in the place the LORD will choose as the dwelling place of his name.^b

3^c You shall not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you shall eat with it only unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, so that you may remember as long as you live the day you left the land of Egypt; for in hurried flight you left the land of Egypt.

4No leaven is to be found with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat which you sacrificed on the evening of the first day shall be kept overnight for the next day.

5You may not sacrifice the Passover in any of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you;

6only at the place which the LORD, your God, will choose as the dwelling place of his name, and in the evening at sunset, at the very time when you left Egypt, shall you sacrifice the Passover.^d

7You shall cook and eat it at the place the LORD, your God, will choose; then in the morning you may return to your tents.

8For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly for the LORD, your God; on that day you shall do no work.^e

Feast of Weeks.

9^f You shall count off seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the day when the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

10You shall then keep the feast of Weeks^* for the LORD, your God, and the measure of your own voluntary offering which you will give shall be in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has given you.

11You shall rejoice in the presence of the LORD, your God, together with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow among you, in the place which the LORD, your God, will choose as the dwelling place of his name.^g

12Remember that you too were slaves in Egypt, so carry out these statutes carefully.

Feast of Booths.

13^h You shall celebrate the feast of Booths^* for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and wine press.

14You shall rejoice at your feast,ⁱ together with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and also the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow within your gates.

15For seven days you shall celebrate this feast for the LORD, your God, in the place which the LORD will choose; since the LORD, your God, has blessed you in all your crops and in all your undertakings, you will be full of joy.

16Three times a year,^j then, all your males shall appear before the LORD, your God, in the place which he will choose: at the feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of Weeks, and at the feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed,

17but each with his own gift, in proportion to the blessing which the LORD, your God, has given to you.

Justice.

18^k In all the communities which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes to administer true justice for the people.

19You must not distort justice: you shall not show partiality;^l you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes even of the wise and twists the words even of the just.

20Justice, justice alone shall you pursue, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD, your God, is giving you.

Illicit Worship.

21^m You shall not plant an asherah^* of any kind of wood next to the altar of the LORD, your God, which you will build;ⁿ

22nor shall you erect a sacred pillar, such as the LORD, your God, hates.

Deuteronomy 17

1You shall not sacrifice to the LORD, your God, an ox or a sheep with any serious defect;^a that would be an abomination to the LORD, your God.

2^b If there is found in your midst, in any one of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the LORD, your God, and transgresses his covenant,^c

3by going to serve other gods, by bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, contrary to my command;^d

4and if you are told or hear of it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the truth of the matter is established that this abomination has been committed in Israel,

5you shall bring the man or the woman who has done this evil deed out to your gates^* and stone the man or the woman to death.

6Only on the testimony of two or three witnesses shall a person be put to death;^e no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

7The hands of the witnesses shall be the first raised to put the person to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.^f Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

Judges.

8^g If there is a case for judgment which proves too baffling for you to decide, in a matter of bloodshed or of law or of injury, matters of dispute within your gates, you shall then go up to the place which the LORD, your God, will choose,

9to the levitical priests or to the judge who is in office at that time. They shall investigate the case and then announce to you the decision.^h

10You shall act according to the decision they announce to you in the place which the LORD will choose, carefully observing everything as they instruct you.

11You shall carry out the instruction they give you and the judgment they pronounce, without turning aside either to the right or left from the decision they announce to you.

12Anyone who acts presumptuously and does not obey the priest^* who officiates there in the ministry of the LORD, your God, or the judge, shall die. Thus shall you purge the evil from Israel.

13And all the people, on hearing of it, shall fear, and will never again act presumptuously.ⁱ

The King.

14^j When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, should you then decide, “I will set a king over me, like all the surrounding nations,”^k

15you may indeed set over you a king whom the LORD, your God, will choose.^l Someone from among your own kindred you may set over you as king; you may not set over you a foreigner, who is no kin of yours.

16^* But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the LORD said to you, Do not go back that way again.^m

17Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart turn away,ⁿ nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold.

18When he is sitting upon his royal throne, he shall write a copy of this law^* upon a scroll from the one that is in the custody of the levitical priests.^o

19^{* p} It shall remain with him and he shall read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to fear the LORD, his God, and to observe carefully all the words of this law and these statutes,

20so that he does not exalt himself over his kindred or turn aside from this commandment to the right or to the left, and so that he and his descendants may reign long in Israel.

Deuteronomy 18

Priests.

1The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no hereditary portion with Israel; they shall eat the fire offerings of the LORD and the portions due to him.^a

2They shall have no heritage among their kindred; the LORD himself is their heritage, as he has told them.^b

3This shall be the due of the priests from the people: those who are offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep, shall give the priest the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach.

4The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil,^c as well as the first shearing of your flock, you shall also give him.

5For the LORD, your God, has chosen him out of all your tribes to be in attendance to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his descendants for all time.^d

6When a Levite goes from one of your communities anywhere in Israel in which he has been residing, to visit, as his heart may desire, the place which the LORD will choose,

7and ministers there in the name of the LORD, his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand before the LORD there,

8he shall receive the same portions to eat, along with his stipends and patrimony.^*

Prophets.

9When you come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of the nations there.^e

10^f Let there not be found among you anyone who causes their son or daughter to pass through the fire,^* or practices divination, or is a soothsayer, augur, or sorcerer,

11or who casts spells, consults ghosts and spirits, or seeks oracles from the dead.

12Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the LORD, and because of such abominations the LORD, your God, is dispossessing them before you.^g

13You must be altogether sincere with the LORD, your God.

14Although these nations whom you are about to dispossess listen to their soothsayers and diviners, the LORD, your God, will not permit you to do so.

15A prophet like me^* will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kindred; that is the one to whom you shall listen.^h

16This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let me not again hear the voice of the LORD, my God, nor see this great fire any more, or I will die.”ⁱ

17And the LORD said to me, What they have said is good.

18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kindred, and will put my words into the mouth of the prophet; the prophet shall tell them all that I command.^j

19Anyone who will not listen to my words which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will hold accountable for it.^k

20But if a prophet presumes to speak a word in my name^l that I have not commanded, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

21Should you say to yourselves, “How can we recognize that a word is one the LORD has not spoken?”,

22if a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the word does not come true, it is a word the LORD did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not fear him.

Hebrews 13

1^* Let mutual love continue.

2Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.^a

3Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.^b

4Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.^c

5Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never forsake you or abandon you.”^d

6Thus we may say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper,

[and] I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?”^e

7Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.^f

9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching.^* It is good to have our hearts strengthened by grace and not by foods, which do not benefit those who live by them.^g

10We have an altar^* from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

11The bodies of the animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as a sin offering are burned outside the camp.^h

12Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to consecrate the people by his own blood.ⁱ

13Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach that he bore.

14For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come.^j

15Through him [then] let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.^k

16Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.^l

17^* Obey your leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to you.

18Pray for us, for we are confident that we have a clear conscience, wishing to act rightly in every respect.

19I especially ask for your prayers that I may be restored to you very soon.

20^* May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord,^m

21furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever [and ever]. Amen.

22Brothers, I ask you to bear with this message of encouragement, for I have written to you rather briefly.

23I must let you know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, I shall see you together with him.ⁿ

24Greetings to all your leaders and to all the holy ones. Those from Italy send you greetings.

25Grace be with all of you.^o

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The complete Book of Deuteronomy

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

The title of Deuteronomy in Hebrew is Debarim, “words,” from its opening phrase. The English title comes from the Septuagint of 17:18, deuteronomion, “copy of the law”; this title is appropriate because the book replicates much of the legal content of the previous books, serving as a “second law.” It brings to a close the five books of the Torah or Pentateuch with a retrospective account of Israel’s past—the exodus, the Sinai covenant, and the wilderness wanderings—and a look into Israel’s future as they stand poised to enter the land of Canaan and begin their life as a people there.

The book consists of three long addresses by Moses. Each of these contains narrative, law, and exhortation, in varying proportions. In an expansion of the first commandment of the decalogue (Ex 20:5–6; Dt 5:9–10), Moses tells the Israelites how to make a success of their life as a people once they are settled in the land. The choice presented to Israel is to love the Lord and keep his commandments, or to serve “other gods.” That choice will determine what kind of life they will make for themselves in the land. Whichever choice they make as a people carries consequences, which Deuteronomy terms “blessing” and “curse.” Thus the book can be seen as a kind of survival manual for Israel in their life as a people: how to live and what to avoid. This gives the book its hortatory style and tone of life-or-death urgency.

One defining concern of the book is centralization of worship. As Israel’s God is one (6:4–5), so its worship must be focused in one place, which the Lord “will choose from among your tribes”; there the Lord will “make his name dwell” (see note on 12:5). Thus the privileged status of the Jerusalem Temple is asserted; all other places and all other modes of worship of the God of Israel (the local shrines, the “high places,” “under every green tree”) are proscribed.

The book was probably composed over the course of three centuries, from the eighth century to the exile and beyond. It bears some relation to “the Book of the Law” discovered in the Jerusalem Temple around 622 B.C. during the reign of King Josiah (2 Kgs 22:8–13). It gives evidence of later editing: cf. the references to exile in 4:1–40; 28:63–68; 29:21–28; 30:1–10.

Over the book looms the disaster of 722/721, the fall of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. The detailed description of siege (28:49–57) especially echoes the fate the North suffered at the hands of the Assyrian invader. The book draws the minds of its intended readers back to a time before disastrous mistakes were made and their disastrous effects felt, and serves to explain the political and theological dynamics that led to the destruction of the North as well as to warn the surviving Southern Kingdom, Judah, to reform by keeping faith with Israel’s covenant Lord.

The characteristic and highly recognizable language and theology of Deuteronomy are seen in editorial comments structuring the works that follow it in the Hebrew canon, the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Together with Deuteronomy, these present a history of Israel from Moses to the time of the Babylonian exile. Conventionally this great multivolume work is termed the Deuteronomistic History. The Book of Deuteronomy itself was also incorporated into the Torah as its fifth volume.

The book presents three discourses by Moses, as follows:

1. First Address (1:1–4:43)
2. Second Address (4:44–28:69)
   1. The Lord’s Covenant with Israel (4:44–11:32)
   2. The Deuteronomic Code (12:1–28:69)
3. Third Address (29:1–33:29)
4. The Death of Moses (34:1–12)

I. FIRST ADDRESS

The book of Hebrews

THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS

As early as the second century, this treatise, which is of great rhetorical power and force in its admonition to faithful pilgrimage under Christ’s leadership, bore the title “To the Hebrews.” It was assumed to be directed to Jewish Christians. Usually Hebrews was attached in Greek manuscripts to the collection of letters by Paul. Although no author is mentioned (for there is no address), a reference to Timothy (Heb 13:23) suggested connections to the circle of Paul and his assistants. Yet the exact audience, the author, and even whether Hebrews is a letter have long been disputed.

The author saw the addressees in danger of apostasy from their Christian faith. This danger was due not to any persecution from outsiders but to a weariness with the demands of Christian life and a growing indifference to their calling (Heb 2:1; 4:14; 6:1–12; 10:23–32). The author’s main theme, the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus (Heb 3–10), is not developed for its own sake but as a means of restoring their lost fervor and strengthening them in their faith. Another important theme of the letter is that of the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem (11:10; 12:1–3, 18–29; 13:14). This theme is intimately connected with that of Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb 9:11–10:22).

The author calls this work a “message of encouragement” (Heb 13:22), a designation that is given to a synagogue sermon in Acts 13:15. Hebrews is probably therefore a written homily, to which the author gave an epistolary ending (Heb 13:22–25). The author begins with a reminder of the preexistence, incarnation, and exaltation of Jesus (Heb 1:3) that proclaimed him the climax of God’s word to humanity (Heb 1:1–3). He dwells upon the dignity of the person of Christ, superior to the angels (Heb 1:4–2:2). Christ is God’s final word of salvation communicated (in association with accredited witnesses to his teaching: cf. Heb 2:3–4) not merely by word but through his suffering in the humanity common to him and to all others (Heb 2:5–16). This enactment of salvation went beyond the pattern known to Moses, faithful prophet of God’s word though he was, for Jesus as high priest expiated sin and was faithful to God with the faithfulness of God’s own Son (Heb 2:17–3:6).

Just as the infidelity of the people thwarted Moses’ efforts to save them, so the infidelity of any Christian may thwart God’s plan in Christ (3:6–4:13). Christians are to reflect that it is their humanity that Jesus took upon himself, with all its defects save sinfulness, and that he bore the burden of it until death out of obedience to God. God declared this work of his Son to be the cause of salvation for all (Heb 4:14–5:10). Although Christians recognize this fundamental teaching, they may grow weary of it and of its implications, and therefore require other reflections to stimulate their faith (5:11–6:20).

Therefore, the author presents to the readers for their reflection the everlasting priesthood of Christ (Heb 7:1–28), a priesthood that fulfills the promise of the Old Testament (Heb 8:1–13). It also provides the meaning God ultimately intended in the sacrifices of the Old Testament (Heb 9:1–28): these pointed to the unique sacrifice of Christ, which alone obtains forgiveness of sins (Heb 10:1–18). The trial of faith experienced by the readers should resolve itself through their consideration of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary and his perpetual intercession there on their behalf (Heb 7:25; 8:1–13). They should also be strengthened by the assurance of his foreordained parousia, and by the fruits of faith that they have already enjoyed (Heb 10:19–39).

It is in the nature of faith to recognize the reality of what is not yet seen and is the object of hope, and the saints of the Old Testament give striking example of that faith (Heb 11:1–40). The perseverance to which the author exhorts the readers is shown forth in the earthly life of Jesus. Despite the afflictions of his ministry and the supreme trial of his suffering and death, he remained confident of the triumph that God would bring him (Heb 12:1–3). The difficulties of human life have meaning when they are accepted as God’s discipline (Heb 12:4–13), and if Christians persevere in fidelity to the word in which they have believed, they are assured of possessing forever the unshakable kingdom of God (Heb 12:14–29).

The letter concludes with specific moral commandments (Heb 13:1–17), in the course of which the author recalls again his central theme of the sacrifice of Jesus and the courage needed to associate oneself with it in faith (Heb 13:9–16).

As early as the end of the second century, the church of Alexandria in Egypt accepted Hebrews as a letter of Paul, and that became the view commonly held in the East. Pauline authorship was contested in the West into the fourth century, but then accepted. In the sixteenth century, doubts about that position were again raised, and the modern consensus is that the letter was not written by Paul. There is, however, no widespread agreement on any of the other suggested authors, e.g., Barnabas, Apollos, or Prisc(ill)a and Aquila. The document itself has no statement about its author.

Among the reasons why Pauline authorship has been abandoned are the great difference of vocabulary and style between Hebrews and Paul’s letters, the alternation of doctrinal teaching with moral exhortation, the different manner of citing the Old Testament, and the resemblance between the thought of Hebrews and that of Alexandrian Judaism. The Greek of the letter is in many ways the best in the New Testament.

Since the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, written about A.D. 96, most probably cites Hebrews, the upper limit for the date of composition is reasonably certain. While the letter’s references in the present tense to the Old Testament sacrificial worship do not necessarily show that temple worship was still going on, many older commentators and a growing number of recent ones favor the view that it was and that the author wrote before the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In that case, the argument of the letter is more easily explained as directed toward Jewish Christians rather than those of Gentile origin, and the persecutions they have suffered in the past (cf. Heb 10:32–34) may have been connected with the disturbances that preceded the expulsion of the Jews from Rome in A.D. 49 under the emperor Claudius. These were probably caused by disputes between Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not.

The principal divisions of the Letter to the Hebrews are the following:

1. Introduction (1:1–4)
2. The Son Higher than the Angels (1:5–2:18)
3. Jesus, Faithful and Compassionate High Priest (3:1–5:10)
4. Jesus’ Eternal Priesthood and Eternal Sacrifice (5:11–10:39)
5. Examples, Discipline, Disobedience (11:1–12:29)
6. Final Exhortation, Blessing, Greetings (13:1–25)