"At the end of seven years you shall grant a remission of debt. And this is the manner of the remission of debt: every creditor shall remit his claim that he holds against his neighbor, and he shall not exact payment from his brother because there a remission of debt has been proclaimed unto Yahweh. With respect to the foreigner you may exact payment, but you must remit what shall be owed to you with respect to your brother. Nevertheless, there shall not be among you a poor person, because Yahweh will certainly bless you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, to take possession of it. If only you listen well to the voice of Yahweh your God by observing diligently all of these commandments that I am commanding you today. When Yahweh your God has blessed you, just as he promised to you, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow from them, and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. If there is a poor person among you from among one of your brothers in one of your towns that Yahweh your God is giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward your brother who is poor. But you shall certainly open your hand for him, and you shall willingly lend to him enough to meet his need, whatever it is. Take care so that there will not be a thought of wickedness in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,’ and you view your needy neighbor with hostility, and so you do not give to him, and he might cry out against you to Yahweh, and you would incur guilt against yourself. By all means you must give to him, and you must not be discontented at your giving to him, because on account of this very thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For the poor will not cease to be among you in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor that are in your land.’

If your relative who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and he or she has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person out free. And when you send him out free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall generously supply him from among your flocks and from your threshing floor and from your press; according to that with which Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you thus today. And then if it will happen that he says to you, ‘I do not want to go out from you,’ because he loves you and your family, because it is good for him to be with you; then you shall take an awl, and you shall thrust it through his earlobe and into the door, and he shall be to you a slave forever; and you shall also do likewise for your slave woman. It shall not be hard in your eyes when you send him forth free, because for six years he has served you worth twice the wage of a hired worker; and Yahweh your God will bless you in whatever you will do.

"Every firstling male that is born of your herd and of your flock you shall consecrate to Yahweh your God; you shall not do work with the firstling of your ox, and you shall not shear the firstling of your flock. Rather before Yahweh your God you shall eat it year by year at the place Yahweh will choose, you and your household. But if there is a physical defect in it, such as lameness or blindness, any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. In your towns you shall eat it, the unclean and the clean together may eat it, just as they eat the gazelle and as they eat the deer. But you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water."

"Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh your God from among your flock and herd at the place that Yahweh will choose, to let his name dwell there. You shall not eat with it anything leavened; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. And leaven shall not be seen with you in any of your territory for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning. You are not allowed to offer the Passover sacrifice in one of your towns that Yahweh your God is giving to you, but only at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there; you shall offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening at sunset, at the designated time of your going out from Egypt. And you shall cook, and you shall eat it at the place that Yahweh your God will choose; and you may turn in the morning and go to your tents. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be an assembly for Yahweh your God; you shall not do work.

"You shall count off seven weeks for you; from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks. And then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you shall give just as Yahweh your God has blessed you. And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite that is in your towns and the alien and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place that Yahweh your God will choose to let his name dwell there. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so you shall diligently observe these rules.

"You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for yourselves seven days at the gathering in of the produce from your threshing floor and from your press; and you shall rejoice at your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns. Seven days you shall celebrate your feast to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose, for Yahweh your God shall bless you in all of your produce and in all of the work of your hand, and you shall surely be rejoicing. Three times in the year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty-handed. Each person shall give as he is able, that is, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you.

"You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your towns that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people righteous judgments. You shall not subvert justice; you shall not show partiality; and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind the eyes of the wise and misrepresents the words of the righteous. Justice, only justice you shall pursue, so that you may live, and you shall take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah pole beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves. And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, a thing that Yahweh your God hates.

"You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or sheep that has a physical defect of anything seriously wrong, for that is a detestable thing to Yahweh your God. If there is found in one of your towns that Yahweh your God is giving to you a man or a woman that does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God to transgress his covenant and by going and serving other gods and so he bows down to them and to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of heaven which I have forbidden, and it is reported to you or you hear about it and you enquire about it thoroughly and, indeed, the trustworthiness of the deed has been established, it has occurred, this detestable thing, in Israel, then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates; that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones to death. On the evidence of two or three witnesses the person shall be put to death. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the person to kill the person, and afterward the hands of all the people, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.

"If a matter is too difficult for you, for example disputes between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault and between matters of discernment in your towns, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be in office in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you the verdict.

"And you shall carry out exactly the decision that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and you shall diligently observe according to all that they instruct you. And so according to the instruction of the law that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or to the left. And the man who treats with contempt so as not to listen to the priest who is standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people will hear and will be afraid, and they will not behave presumptuously again.

"When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God is giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, ‘I will set over me a king like all the nations that are around me,’ indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who is not your countryman. Except, he may not make numerous for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to to go to Egypt in order to increase horses, for Yahweh has said to you that you may never return. And he must not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart would turn aside; and he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively.

"And then when he is sitting on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll before the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by diligently observing all the word of this law and these rules, so as not to exalt his heart above his countrymen and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that he may reign long over his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

"And there shall not be for the Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, a plot of ground and an inheritance with Israel, rather they may eat an offering made by fire as their inheritance, for Yahweh. And there shall not be for them an inheritance of land in the midst of his brothers; rather Yahweh is his inheritance, just as he promised to them.

Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from those who sacrifice the sacrifice, whether it is an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil and the firstfruits of the fleece of your sheep you shall give to him. For Yahweh your God has chosen him from among all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, he and his sons forever.

And if a Levite comes from one of your towns from anywhere in Israel where he is residing, he may come whenever he desires, to the place that Yahweh will choose, and he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God, just like all his brothers, the Levites who stand there before Yahweh. They shall eat equal portions, apart from what he may receive from the sale of his patrimony.

"When you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, you must not learn to do like the detestable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or one who practices divination, or an interpreter of signs, or an augur, or sorcerer, or one who casts magic spells, or one who consults a spirit of the dead, or spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead. For everyone doing these things is detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you. You must be blameless before Yahweh your God. For these nations that you are about to dispossess listen to interpreters of signs and to diviners, but Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do the same.

"Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen, and to him you shall listen. This is according to all that you asked from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘I do not want again to hear the voice of Yahweh my God, and I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!’ And Yahweh said to me, ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up a prophet for them from among their countrymen like you, and I will place my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. And then the man that will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I will hold accountable. However, the prophet that behaves presumptuously by speaking a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, and who speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet shall die.’ And if you say to yourself, ‘How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken to him?’ Whenever what the prophet spoke in the name of Yahweh, the thing does not take place and does not come about, that is the thing that Yahweh has not spoken to him. Presumptuously the prophet spoke it; you shall not fear that prophet."

And summoning the twelve, he gave them power and authority over all the demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said to them, "Take along nothing for the journey—neither a staff, nor a traveler’s bag, nor bread, nor money, nor to have two tunics apiece. And into whatever house you enter, stay there and depart from there. And as for all those who do not welcome you—when you depart from that town, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony against them." So they departed and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John has been raised from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and others that some prophet of ancient times had risen. And Herod said, "John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?" And he was wanting to see him.

And when they returned, the apostles described to him all that they had done. And he took them along and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. But when the crowds found out, they followed him, and welcoming them, he began to speak to them about the kingdom of God, and he cured those who had need of healing. Now the day began to be far spent, and the twelve came up and said to him, "Send away the crowd so that they can go into the surrounding villages and farms to obtain lodging and find provisions, because we are here in a desolate place. But he said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and purchase food for all these people." (For there were about five thousand men.) So he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." And they did so, and had them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them and began giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up by them—twelve baskets of broken pieces.

And it happened that while he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" And they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but others, Elijah, and others, that one of the ancient prophets has risen." And he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

But he warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "It is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised on the third day.

And he said to them all, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me, this person will save it. For what is a person benefited if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of this person when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will never experience death until they see the kingdom of God."

Now it happened that about eight days after these words, he took along Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white, gleaming like lightning. And behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and were speaking about his departure which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.

Now Peter and those with him were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him. And it happened that as they were going away from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah," not knowing what he was saying. And while he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud. And a voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!" And after the voice had occurred, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Now it happened that on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, saying, "Teacher, I beg you to look with concern on my son, because he is my only son! And behold, a spirit seizes him and suddenly he screams, and it convulses him with foam and rarely withdraws from him, battering him severely. And I begged your disciples that they would expel it, and they were not able to do so." So Jesus answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation! How long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here!" And while he was still approaching, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all astounded at the impressiveness of God.

But while they were all marveling at all the things that he was doing, he said to his disciples, "You take these words to heart, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men." But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they could not understand it. And they were afraid to ask him about this statement.

And an argument developed among them as to who of them might be greatest. But Jesus, because he knew the thoughts of their hearts, took hold of a child and had him stand beside him and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all—this one is great."

And John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone expelling demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow in company with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not prevent him, because whoever is not against you is for you."

Now it happened that when the days were approaching for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers before him, and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans in order to prepare for him. And they did not welcome him because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. Now when the disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned around and rebuked them, and they proceeded to another village.

And as they were traveling on the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go!" And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." And he said to another, "Follow me!" But he said, "Lord, first allow me to go and bury my father." But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead! But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." And another person also said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say farewell to those in my house." But Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God!"