Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 15

Debts Canceled

¹ "At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.^{(a) 2} This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor^[a] is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord 's release of debts has been proclaimed. ³ You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

⁴ "There will be no poor among you, however, because the Lord is certain to bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance^(b)— ⁵ if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today. ⁶ When the Lord your God blesses you as He has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

Lending to the Poor

⁷ "If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. ⁸ Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has. ⁹ Be careful that there isn't this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,' and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty. ¹⁰ Give to him, and don't have a stingy heart^[b] when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.^{[c] 11} For there will never cease to be poor people in the land;^(c) that is why I am commanding you, ‘You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.'

Release of Slaves

¹² "If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.^{(d) 13} When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴ Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with. ¹⁵ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed^(e) you; that is why I am giving you this command today.^{(f) 16} But if your slave says to you, ‘I don't want to leave you,' because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, ¹⁷ take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way. ¹⁸ Do not regard it as a hardship^[d] when you set him free, because he worked for you six years—worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.^(g)

Consecration of Firstborn Animals

¹⁹ "You must consecrate to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock.^(h) You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock. ²⁰ Each year you and your family are to eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses. ²¹ But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² Eat it within your gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer. ²³ But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water.⁽ⁱ⁾

Chapter 16

The Festival of Passover

¹ "Observe the month of Abib^[a](a) and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib. ² Sacrifice to Yahweh your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have His name dwell.^{(b) 3} You must not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of hardship—because you left the land of Egypt in a hurry—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt. ⁴ No yeast is to be found anywhere in your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day is to remain until morning. ⁵ You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns the Lord your God is giving you. ⁶ You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where Yahweh your God chooses to have His name dwell. Do this in the evening as the sun sets at the same time of day you departed from Egypt. ⁷ You are to cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses, and you are to return to your tents in the morning. ⁸ You must eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God, and you must not do any work.

The Festival of Weeks

⁹ "You are to count seven weeks, counting the weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.^{(c) 10} You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the Lord your God has blessed you. ¹¹ Rejoice^(d) before Yahweh your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; carefully follow these statutes.

The Festival of Booths

¹³ "You are to celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days when you have gathered in everything from your threshing floor and winepress.^{(e) 14} Rejoice during your festival—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, as well as the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates. ¹⁵ You are to hold a seven-day festival for the Lord your God in the place He chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands,^(f) and you will have abundant joy.

¹⁶ "All your males are to appear three times a year^(g) before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

Appointing Judges and Officials

¹⁸ "Appoint judges and officials for your tribes in all your towns the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹ Do not deny justice or show partiality to anyone. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. ²⁰ Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(h)

Forbidden Worship

²¹ "Do not set up an Asherah of any kind of wood next to the altar you will build for the Lord your God, ²² and do not set up a sacred pillar; the Lord your God hates them.⁽ⁱ⁾

Chapter 17

¹ "You must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or sheep with a defect or any serious flaw, for that is detestable to the Lord your God.^(a)

The Judicial Procedure for Idolatry

² "If^(b) a man or woman among you in one of your towns that the Lord your God will give you is discovered doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God and violating His covenant^{(c) 3} and has gone to worship other gods by bowing down to the sun, moon, or all the stars in the sky—which I have forbidden— ⁴ and if you are told or hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened in Israel, ⁵ you must bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing and stone them to death. ⁶ The one condemned to die is to be executed on the testimony of two or three witnesses. No one is to be executed on the testimony of a single witness. ⁷ The witnesses' hands are to be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people.^(d) You must purge the evil from you.^(e)

Difficult Cases

⁸ "If a case is too difficult for you—concerning bloodshed,^(f) lawsuits,^(g) or assaults^(h)—cases disputed at your gates,⁽ⁱ⁾ you must go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case. ¹⁰ You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do exactly as they instruct you. ¹¹ You must abide by the instruction they give you and the verdict they announce to you. Do not turn to the right or the left from the decision they declare to you. ¹² The person who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there serving the Lord your God or to the judge, must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. ¹³ Then all the people will hear about it, be afraid, and no longer behave arrogantly.

Appointing a King

¹⁴ "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you,^(j) take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,' ¹⁵ you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses.^(k) Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people.^{(l) 16} However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.'^{(m) 17} He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won't go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. ¹⁸ When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear⁽ⁿ⁾ the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. ²⁰ Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue ruling many years^[a] over Israel.

Chapter 18

Provisions for the Levites

¹ "The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They will eat the Lord 's fire offerings; that is their^[a][b] inheritance. ² Although Levi has no inheritance among his brothers, the Lord is his inheritance, as He promised him.^{(a) 3} This is the priests' share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether it is an ox, a sheep, or a goat; the priests are to be given the shoulder, jaws, and stomach. ⁴ You are to give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first sheared wool of your flock. ⁵ For Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and minister in His name from now on.^{[c] 6} When a Levite leaves one of your towns where he lives in Israel and wants to go to the place the Lord chooses, ⁷ he may serve in the name of Yahweh his God like all his fellow Levites who minister there in the presence of the Lord . ⁸ They will eat equal portions besides what he has received from the sale of the family estate.^[d](b)

Occult Practices versus Prophetic Revelation

⁹ "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations. ¹⁰ No one among you is to make his son or daughter pass through the fire,^[e](c) practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, ¹¹ cast spells, consult a medium or a familiar spirit, or inquire of the dead.^{(d) 12} Everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord , and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable things. ¹³ You must be blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ Though these nations you are about to drive out listen to fortune-tellers and diviners, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do this.

¹⁵ "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.^(e) You must listen to him. ¹⁶ This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!'^{(f) 17} Then the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to My words that he speaks in My name.^{(g) 20} But the prophet who dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.' ²¹ You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?' ²² When a prophet speaks in the Lord 's name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.