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Day 58: Deuteronomy 15–18 · Luke 9 · Psalm 115 · Commentary · Commentary² · Audio
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
Deuteronomy 15
At the end of every seven years you are to make a release. This is how the release is to be done: every creditor is to release what he has lent to his neighbor. He is not to press his neighbor or his brother, because a release for Jehovah has been proclaimed.
From a foreigner you may press for payment, but whatever of yours is with your brother—you are to release it. However, there will be no poor among you, because Jehovah will surely bless you in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, if only you carefully listen to the voice of Jehovah your God and take care to do all this command that I am commanding you today.
Jehovah your God will bless you just as he has spoken to you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
If there is among you a poor man from among your brothers within any of your gates in your land that Jehovah your God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and surely lend him enough for his need—whatever he lacks.
Take care that there is not a worthless thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” and your eye looks begrudgingly on your poor brother and you give him nothing. Then he may cry out to Jehovah against you, and it will be sin in you.
You are surely to give to him, and your heart is not to be grieved when you give to him, because for this Jehovah your God will bless you in all your work and in everything that you undertake.
For the poor will never cease from the midst of the land. Therefore I am commanding you, saying, “You are surely to open your hand to your brother, to your needy one and to your poor one in your land.”
If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you are to send him away from you free. When you send him away from you free, you are not to send him away empty-handed. You are surely to furnish him from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what Jehovah your God has blessed you with, you are to give to him.
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah your God redeemed you. Therefore I am commanding you this word today.
But if he says to you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your household, because it is good for him with you, then you are to take an awl and put it through his ear into the door, and he will be your servant forever. You are to do the same to your female servant.
It is not to be hard in your eyes when you send him away from you free, because for twice the hire of a hired worker he has served you six years. Jehovah your God will bless you in everything that you do.
All the firstborn males that are born in your herd and in your flock you are to set apart to Jehovah your God. You are not to work with the firstborn of your herd or shear the firstborn of your flock. You and your household are to eat it before Jehovah your God year by year in the place that Jehovah will choose.
But if it has a defect—lameness or blindness, any serious defect—you are not to sacrifice it to Jehovah your God. Within your gates you may eat it; the tamé and the tahor alike may eat it, as the gazelle and the deer. Only you are not to eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
Deuteronomy 16
Take care to keep the month of Aviv and perform the Passover to Jehovah your God, because in the month of Aviv Jehovah your God brought you out of Egypt at night.
You are to sacrifice the Passover to Jehovah your God from the flock and from the herd, in the place that Jehovah will choose to make his name dwell there. You are not to eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you are to eat it with unleavened bread—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
No leaven is to be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day is to remain overnight until morning.
You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates that Jehovah your God is giving you. Instead, in the place that Jehovah your God will choose to make his name dwell there, there you are to sacrifice the Passover in the evening, at sunset, at the time when you came out of Egypt. You are to cook it and eat it in the place that Jehovah your God will choose, and in the morning you are to turn and go to your tents.
For six days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to Jehovah your God. You are not to do any work.
You are to count seven weeks for yourself. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you are to begin counting seven weeks. Then you are to perform the Festival of Weeks to Jehovah your God with a freewill offering of your hand, which you are to give according to how Jehovah your God blesses you.
You are to rejoice before Jehovah your God—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, and the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you—in the place that Jehovah your God will choose to make his name dwell there.
You are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt and take care to do these statutes.
You are to perform the Festival of Booths for seven days when you gather in from your threshing floor and from your winepress. You are to rejoice in your festival—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates.
For seven days you are to perform the festival to Jehovah your God in the place that Jehovah will choose, because Jehovah your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will surely rejoice.
Three times in the year all your males are to appear before Jehovah your God in the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths. They are not to appear before Jehovah empty-handed. Each man is to give as he is able, according to the blessing of Jehovah your God that he has given you.
You are to appoint judges and officers for yourself within all your gates that Jehovah your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they are to judge the people with righteous judgment. You are not to twist judgment. You are not to show partiality, and you are not to take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
Justice—justice—you are to pursue, so that you may live and possess the land that Jehovah your God is giving you.
You are not to plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah your God that you make for yourself. You are not to set up a pillar for yourself, which Jehovah your God hates.
Deuteronomy 17
You are not to sacrifice to Jehovah your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect—any bad thing—because that is detestable to Jehovah your God.
If there is found among you, within one of your gates that Jehovah your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the eyes of Jehovah your God by crossing his covenant and goes and serves other gods and bows down to them—to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded—and it is reported to you and you hear of it, then you are to inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter is confirmed that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then you are to bring that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates—the man or the woman—and you are to stone them with stones until they die.
On the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses the one who is to die is to be put to death. He is not to be put to death on the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses is to be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you are to remove the evil from your midst.
If a matter is too difficult for you in judgment—between blood and blood, between claim and claim, and between assault and assault—matters of dispute within your gates—then you are to rise and go up to the place that Jehovah your God will choose. You are to come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is serving in those days, and you are to inquire. They will declare to you the word of judgment.
You are to act according to the word that they declare to you from that place that Jehovah will choose, and you are to take care to do according to all that they instruct you. According to the instruction that they teach you and according to the judgment that they tell you, you are to act. You are not to turn aside from the word that they declare to you, to the right or to the left.
The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands to serve there before Jehovah your God, or to the judge—that man is to die. So you are to remove the evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid, and they will not act presumptuously again.
When you come to the land that Jehovah your God is giving you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,” you are surely to set a king over you whom Jehovah your God will choose. One from among your brothers you are to set as king over you. You are not to put a foreigner over you who is not your brother.
Only he is not to multiply horses for himself, and he is not to cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses, since Jehovah has said to you, “You are never again to return that way.” He is not to multiply wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away, and he is not to greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll from before the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them, so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers and so that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom—he and his sons—in the midst of Israel.
Deuteronomy 18
The Levitical priests—all the tribe of Levi—are to have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the offerings of Jehovah made by fire and his inheritance. They are to have no inheritance among their brothers; Jehovah is their inheritance, just as he has spoken to them.
This is to be the due of the priests from the people, from those who sacrifice a sacrifice—whether an ox or a sheep: they are to give to the priest the shoulder, the jaws, and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you are to give to him, because Jehovah your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of Jehovah—he and his sons for all time.
If a Levite comes from one of your gates, from anywhere in Israel where he resides, and comes with all the desire of his life to the place that Jehovah will choose, then he may serve in the name of Jehovah his God like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before Jehovah. They are to eat equal portions, besides what he receives from the sale of his ancestral goods.
When you come into the land that Jehovah your God is giving you, you are not to learn to do according to the detestable practices of those nations. There is not to be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who practices divination, one who practices soothsaying, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or one who consults a spirit medium, or a familiar spirit, or one who seeks the dead.
Because everyone who does these things is detestable to Jehovah, and because of these detestable practices Jehovah your God is driving them out from before you, you are to remain fully with Jehovah your God.
For these nations that you are dispossessing listen to those who practice soothsaying and divination, but as for you, Jehovah your God has not allowed you to do so.
Jehovah your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from among your brothers, like me. You are to listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of Jehovah your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God or see this great fire anymore, so that I do not die.”
Then Jehovah said to me, “They have spoken well in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them everything that I command him. It will happen that whoever does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name—I myself will require it of him.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet is to die.”
If you say in your heart, “How will we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?”—when a prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not happen or come about, that is the word that Jehovah has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You are not to be afraid of him.
Luke 9
He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money—and do not have two tunics each. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. Wherever they do not receive you, as you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
They went through the villages, announcing the good news and healing everywhere.
Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had risen. Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he was trying to see him.
The apostles returned and reported what they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to Bethsaida. But the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
The day began to decline, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, because we are in a deserted place.”
But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.” There were about five thousand men.
He said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” They did so and had them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up—twelve baskets of pieces.
Once, while he was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They answered, “John the Baptizer, but others say Elijah, and others that one of the ancient prophets has risen.”
He said to them, “But you—who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”
But he strictly warned them and ordered them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
He said to all, “If anyone wants to come after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will save it. What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world and lose or forfeit themselves? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy messengers. But I tell you truly, some standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
About eight days after these sayings, he took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. While he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothing became dazzling white. Two men were speaking with him—Moses and Elijah—who appeared in glory and were speaking about his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Peter and those with him were weighed down with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were parting from him, Peter said, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he was saying.
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the one chosen. Listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent and told no one in those days anything they had seen.
On the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, because he is my only child. A spirit seizes him, and suddenly he cries out and convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and it scarcely leaves him, crushing him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
All were astonished at the greatness of God.
While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: the Son of Man is about to be handed over into human hands.” But they did not understand this saying. It was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child, set him beside him, and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you—this one is great.”
John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.”
But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead of him, and they went and entered a Samaritan village to prepare for him, but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus said, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
He said to another, “Follow me.”
But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
But he said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at my home.”
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Psalm 115
Not to us, Lord, not to us,
but give glory to your name,
because of your loyalty,
because of your faithfulness.
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see;
they have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell;
they have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
they make no sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them,
so do all who trust in them.
Israel, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and their shield.
House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and their shield.
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and their shield.
The Lord remembers us and will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
the small together with the great.
May the Lord increase you,
you and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord,
maker of heaven and earth.
The heavens are the heavens of the Lord,
but the earth he has given to human beings.
The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence.
But we will bless the Lord
from this time and forever.
Praise the Lord.
Commentary - Day 58
Deuteronomy 15–18 · Luke 9 · Psalm 115
The release year is named at the beginning of the command. Debts are loosened, hands are opened, and what was held is set free. The release is not left to mood or convenience; it is tied to a counted year that arrives whether the creditor prefers it or not. The poor remain within the gates, and the command speaks directly to the moment when the year draws near and reluctance begins to form in the heart. The hand is opened to the poor brother while the thought of the seventh year rises in the heart, and the memory of Egypt is spoken alongside the giving.
Servants who leave after six years do not depart empty. Flocks, grain, and wine are placed into their hands at the moment of release. What had been received becomes the measure of what is given. Yet the text also holds the opposite possibility—a servant who chooses to remain, whose ear is fixed to the door with an awl. Freedom and attachment stand beside each other at the same threshold, marked by the same doorway.
Passover, Weeks, and Booths are named one after another, each drawing the people to the place Jehovah chooses. Bread without leaven, counted weeks, gathered harvest, and booths made for dwelling mark the passing of time. These movements are not scattered through the land but drawn toward a chosen location where offerings are brought and rejoicing occurs together. The memory of departure from Egypt returns within each cycle, so that past rescue is not separated from present celebration.
Judges are placed within the gates, and judgment is described as something that must not bend. Bribes, partiality, and planted symbols beside the altar appear as distortions that lean the structure away from what was given. Justice—justice—is spoken at the entrance to possession of the land. Witnesses speak first, stones follow afterward, and difficult cases rise to the place where priests and judges declare the word.
When the thought of a king appears, limits surround the throne before it is established. Horses are not to multiply, wealth is not to accumulate without measure, and the law itself is placed into the king’s own hand. He writes a copy and reads it throughout his days so that elevation does not lift him above his brothers. The king sits on the throne, yet the scroll remains before him.
The Levites stand without land inheritance, sustained by portions that come from the offerings of others. Their place is marked not by territory but by service. At the same time, practices drawn from surrounding nations are named and refused—divination, omens, consultations with the dead. Instead of hidden voices, a prophet is promised from among their own people, one whose words will be tested by their outcome. Speech that does not come to pass is exposed by its failure.
In Luke, the twelve are sent out with nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no extra clothing. Houses receive them or reject them, and dust shaken from the feet remains as a witness at departure. They enter houses, remain where they are received, and shake dust from their feet where they are not. Herod hears of these events from a distance, uncertain of who stands behind them, while crowds press near to receive food and teaching.
In a deserted place, five loaves and two fish are placed into many hands. Groups sit in ordered rows, and food moves outward until all are satisfied. What began as a scarcity becomes baskets gathered at the end. The disciples carry fragments after the meal, holding what remains of what had been broken.
Later, on the mountain, faces and garments change in appearance, and familiar figures stand speaking about what lies ahead in Jerusalem. Sleep gives way to sight, and fear enters as a cloud overshadows them. A voice emerges from within the cloud, naming the Son and directing attention toward him. When the cloud lifts, the mountain returns to stillness, and silence follows the descent.
Below the mountain, a child convulsed by a spirit is brought forward. The disturbance is visible and violent until rebuke is spoken and the child is restored to his father. Amazement spreads among those who witness the change, yet the words about suffering and rejection remain difficult to grasp, concealed even as they are spoken.
Arguments about greatness arise among the disciples, and a child is placed beside them as the measure of reception. Those who attempt to call fire down on a village are turned aside, and the road continues toward Jerusalem without destruction. Others along the road offer to follow, yet burial, farewells, and comfort appear as delays placed beside the plow that must move forward without turning back.
The psalm contrasts crafted idols with the living God. Mouths that do not speak and eyes that do not see are set beside trust that rests on a shield. Those who make lifeless forms become like them, while those who trust are described as remembered and blessed. The heavens remain God’s domain, yet the earth is given into human hands. The living speak praise, while silence belongs to those who have gone down into stillness.
Debts are released in the seventh year, servants leave with flocks and grain, judges sit in the gates, kings write the law on a scroll, prophets speak words that must come to pass, disciples carry baskets of fragments, and the road continues toward Jerusalem. The seventh year arrives whether hands open or close, rows of people sit in groups of fifty, the king reads from the scroll written in his own hand, and baskets of broken pieces are gathered after the meal.
Deuteronomy 15–18 orders release, giving, feasts, judgment, kingship, priesthood, and prophecy before leaving any of them to preference. The open hand is set against the heart that calculates the seventh year, servants go free but may remain at the door, judges sit in the gates, the king writes the law for himself, and false speech is exposed by what does not come to pass.
In Luke 9, the twelve go out with nothing, crowds are fed in ordered groups from five loaves and two fish, a cloud on the mountain gives way to silence, a child is restored to his father, the disciples argue over greatness, and the road to Jerusalem continues past refusal. Psalm 115 sets speechless idols against the living God who remembers and blesses. Across the readings, what is given first is not impulse but command, place, and word.
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