1 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His property. 2 They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.
3 “Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand to serve in the name of the Lord always.
6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and he comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, 7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 They shall eat equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.
9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. 13 You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. 16 This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. 19 And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.
1 Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
Make His deeds known among the peoples.
2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Tell of all His wonders.
3 Boast in His holy name;
May the heart of those who seek the Lord be joyful.
4 Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
5 Remember His wonders which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments spoken by His mouth,
6 You descendants of Abraham, His servant,
You sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac.
10 Then He confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the portion of your inheritance,”
12 When they were only a few people in number,
Very few, and strangers in it.
13 And they wandered from nation to nation,
From one kingdom to another people,
14 He allowed no one to oppress them,
And He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying,
15 “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do not harm My prophets.”
16 And He called for a famine upon the land;
He broke the whole staff of bread.
17 He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They forced his feet into shackles,
He was put in irons;
19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord refined him.
20 The king sent and released him,
The ruler of peoples, and set him free.
21 He made him lord of his house,
And ruler over all his possessions,
22 To imprison his high officials at will,
That he might teach his elders wisdom.
23 Israel also came into Egypt;
So Jacob lived in the land of Ham.
24 And He made His people very fruitful,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal cunningly with His servants.
26 He sent His servant Moses,
And Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27 They performed His wondrous acts among them,
And miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His words.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
And caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs
Even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and a swarm of flies
And gnats invaded all their territory.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33 He also struck their vines and their fig trees,
And smashed the trees of their territory.
34 He spoke, and locusts came,
And creeping locusts, beyond number,
35 And they ate all the vegetation in their land,
And ate the fruit of their ground.
36 He also fatally struck all the firstborn in their land,
The first fruits of all their vigor.
37 Then He brought the Israelites out with silver and gold,
And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the dread of them had fallen upon the Egyptians.
39 He spread out a cloud as a covering,
And fire to illumine by night.
40 They asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock and water flowed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.
42 For He remembered His holy word
With His servant Abraham;
43 And He led out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with a joyful shout.
44 He also gave them the lands of the nations,
So that they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor,
45 And that they might keep His statutes
And comply with His laws;
Praise the Lord!
1 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the right hand,
To subdue nations before him
And to undo the weapons belt on the waist of kings;
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth;
I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no one else;
There is no God except Me.
I will arm you, though you have not known Me,
6 So that people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no one else,
7 The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating disaster;
I am the Lord who does all these things.
8 “Drip down, heavens, from above,
And let the clouds pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit,
And righteousness sprout with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
A piece of pottery among the other earthenware pottery pieces!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you fathering?’
Or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth?’”
11 This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker:
“Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons,
And you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.
12 It is I who made the earth, and created mankind upon it.
I stretched out the heavens with My hands,
And I ordained all their lights.
13 I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will build My city and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies.
14 This is what the Lord says:
“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will come over to you and will be yours;
They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains
And will bow down to you;
They will plead with you:
‘God certainly is with you, and there is no one else,
No other God.’”
15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
God of Israel, Savior!
16 They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them;
The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.
17 Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an everlasting salvation;
You will not be put to shame or humiliated
To all eternity.
18 For this is what the Lord says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited):
“I am the Lord, and there is no one else.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
In some dark land;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in a wasteland’;
I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
Declaring things that are right.
20 “Gather yourselves and come;
Come together, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge,
Who carry around their wooden idol
And pray to a god who cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this long ago?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
24 They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
People will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified and will boast.”
1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who were victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3 And they *sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
4 Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and their chests wrapped with golden sashes. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.