Deuteronomy 13, 14, Psalm 99, 100, 101, Isaiah 41, Revelation 11

Deuteronomy 13, 14,

1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder,
 
2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them,"
 
3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
 
4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.
 
5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
 
6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known,
 
7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other),
 
8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.
 
9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people.
 
10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
 
11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
 
12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in
 
13 that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods you have not known),
 
14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,
 
15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.
 
16 Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt.
 
17 None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers,
 
18 because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.

1 You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,
 
2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
 
3 Do not eat any detestable thing.
 
4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
 
5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.
 
6 You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud.
 
7 However, of those that chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the coney. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a split hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you.
 
8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
 
9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales.
 
10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
 
11 You may eat any clean bird.
 
12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
 
13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon,
 
14 any kind of raven,
 
15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
 
16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
 
17 the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant,
 
18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
 
19 All flying insects that swarm are unclean to you; do not eat them.
 
20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.
 
21 Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.
 
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
 
23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
 
24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away),
 
25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.
 
26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.
 
27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
 
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns,
 
29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Psalm 99, 100, 101,

1 The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake.
 
2 Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations.
 
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name-he is holy.
 
4 The King is mighty, he loves justice-you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right.
 
5 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.
 
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the LORD and he answered them.
 
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.
 
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.
 
9 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
 
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
 
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
 
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
 
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life-when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.
 
3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.
 
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.
 
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.
 
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.
 
7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.
 
8 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

Isaiah 41,

1 "Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.
 
2 "Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.
 
3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before.
 
4 Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD-with the first of them and with the last-I am he."
 
5 The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward;
 
6 each helps the other and says to his brother, "Be strong!"
 
7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding, "It is good." He nails down the idol so it will not topple.
 
8 "But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,
 
9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
 
10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
 
11 "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
 
12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.
 
13 For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
 
14 Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you," declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
 
15 "See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
 
16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the LORD and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
 
17 "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
 
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.
 
19 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
 
20 so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
 
21 "Present your case," says the LORD. "Set forth your arguments," says Jacob's King.
 
22 "Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,
 
23 tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
 
24 But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable.
 
25 "I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes-one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.
 
26 Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, 'He was right'? No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you.
 
27 I was the first to tell Zion, 'Look, here they are!' I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.
 
28 I look but there is no one-no one among them to give counsel, no one to give answer when I ask them.
 
29 See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.

Revelation 11

1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.
 
2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.
 
3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."
 
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
 
5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.
 
6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
 
7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.
 
8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
 
9 For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.
 
10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
 
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.
 
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
 
13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
 
14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.
 
15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."
 
16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
 
17 saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.
 
18 The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great-and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
 
19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.