Circumcise Your Hearts, Guard God's Commands

1. At that time Yahweh said to me, “Cut two stone tablets like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood. 2. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.” 3. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two stone tablets like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4. He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Yahweh gave them to me. 5. I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are as Yahweh commanded me. 6. (The children of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his place. 7. From there they traveled to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. 8. At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. 9. Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, according as Yahweh your God spoke to him.) 10. I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh would not destroy you. 11. Yahweh said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people; and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them.” 12. Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13. to keep Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good? 14. Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein. 15. Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today. 16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. 17. For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons, nor takes reward. 18. He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing. 19. Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20. You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him; and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name. 21. He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen. 22. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude. 1. Therefore you shall love Yahweh your God, and keep his instructions, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments, always. 2. Know this day—for I don’t speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm, 3. his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4. and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day; 5. and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place; 6. and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel; 7. but your eyes have seen all of Yahweh’s great work which he did. 8. Therefore you shall keep all the commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where you go over to possess it; 9. and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10. For the land, where you go in to possess, isn’t like the land of Egypt, that you came out of, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; 11. but the land, where you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky, 12. a land which Yahweh your God cares for. Yahweh your God’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. 13. It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14. that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15. I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16. Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17. and Yahweh’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky, so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which Yahweh gives you. 18. Therefore you shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20. You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates; 21. that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. 22. For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him; 23. then Yahweh will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea shall be your border. 25. No man will be able to stand before you. Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you. 26. Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27. the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you today; 28. and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn away out of the way which I command you today, to go after other gods, which you have not known. 29. It shall happen, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30. Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31. For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32. You shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you today. 1. These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth. 2. You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. 3. You shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place. 4. You shall not do so to Yahweh your God. 5. But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and there you shall come. 6. There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7. There you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. 8. You shall not do all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 9. for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you. 10. But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety; 11. then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh. 12. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13. Be careful that you don’t offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14. but in the place which Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. 15. Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat meat within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the deer. 16. Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 17. You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; 18. but you shall eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand to. 19. Be careful that you don’t forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. 20. When Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has promised you, and you say, “I want to eat meat,” because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul. 21. If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. 22. Even as the gazelle and as the deer is eaten, so you shall eat of it. The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 23. Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat. 24. You shall not eat it. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 25. You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes. 26. Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose. 27. You shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on Yahweh your God’s altar; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on Yahweh your God’s altar; and you shall eat the meat. 28. Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in Yahweh your God’s eyes. 29. When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; 30. be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.” 31. You shall not do so to Yahweh your God; for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. 32. Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.

1. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2. Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3. seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; 4. by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5. Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; 6. and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness; 7. and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. 8. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. 10. Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. 11. For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 12. Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth. 13. I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you; 14. knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15. Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure. 16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18. We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. 19. We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts: 20. knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. 21. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit. 1. But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2. Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. 3. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber. 4. For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5. and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 6. and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way; 7. and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked 8. (for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds): 9. the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment; 10. but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries; 11. whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord. 12. But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed, 13. receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you; 14. having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing; 15. forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing; 16. but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet. 17. These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. 18. For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error; 19. promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him. 20. For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.” 1. This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you; 2. that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: 3. knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts, 4. and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 5. For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God; 6. by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. 7. But the heavens that now exist, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8. But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11. Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12. looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13. But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14. Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight. 15. Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you; 16. as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17. You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness. 18. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

1. Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands! 2. Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. 3. Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. 5. For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.