When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,
casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.
For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.
You must be blameless before the LORD your God.
He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”
But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’
Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed.
When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”
. . .
“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them.
Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.
. . .
Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of prophecy in this book, because the time is near.
Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”
“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.
. . .
Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully.
The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.
The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.
At that time I was standing between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. And He said:
. . .
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.
It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.
This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.
There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
. . .
The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
. . .
Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time.
For this reason I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
Then the LORD said to Moses,
“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.
When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it for your acceptance.
. . .
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.
For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.
Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens.
Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him for His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.
Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.
Praise Him with clashing cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals.
. . .
And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.”
Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything You commanded me.
My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck.
When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,
yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
Of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, so that the king drove him away. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,
So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.
And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.
Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.
But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,
. . .
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.