October 17
Deuteronomy 17 & Mark 3
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Deuteronomy 17

Chapter 17

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.
2"If 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 3and has gone to worship other gods by bowing down to the sun, moon, or all the stars in the sky-which I have forbidden- 4and 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, 5you must bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing and stone them to death. 6The 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. 7The witnesses' hands are to be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from you.
8"If a case is too difficult for you-concerning bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults-cases disputed at your gates, you must go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. 9You 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. 10You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do exactly as they instruct you. 11You 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. 12The 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. 13Then all the people will hear about it, be afraid, and no longer behave arrogantly.
14"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,' 15you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people. 16However, 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.' 17He 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. 18When 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. 19It 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 the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. 20Then 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 over Israel.

Mark 3

Chapter 3

3:1Now He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a paralyzed hand. 2In order to accuse Him, they were watching Him closely to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath. 3He told the man with the paralyzed hand, "Stand before us." 4Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. 5After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, He told the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
7Jesus departed with His disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, Judea, 8Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him because they heard about everything He was doing. 9Then He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, so the crowd would not crush Him. 10Since He had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing toward Him to touch Him. 11Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, those possessed fell down before Him and cried out, "You are the Son of God!" 12And He would strongly warn them not to make Him known.
13Then He went up the mountain and summoned those He wanted, and they came to Him. 14He also appointed 12-He also named them apostles-to be with Him, to send them out to preach, 15and to have authority to drive out demons.
16He appointed the Twelve:
To Simon, He gave the name Peter;
17and to James the son of Zebedee,
and to his brother John,
He gave the name "Boanerges"
(that is, "Sons of Thunder");
18Andrew;
Philip and Bartholomew;
Matthew and Thomas;
James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus;
Simon the Zealot,
19and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed Him.
20Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. 21When His family heard this, they set out to restrain Him, because they said, "He's out of His mind."
22The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul in Him!" and, "He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons!"
23So He summoned them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished!
27"On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man's house and rob his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he will rob his house. 28I assure you: People will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they may blaspheme. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"- 30because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."
31Then His mother and His brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to Him and called Him. 32A crowd was sitting around Him and told Him, "Look, Your mother, Your brothers, and Your sisters are outside asking for You."
33He replied to them, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" 34And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother."

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