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Day 60: Deuteronomy 23–26 · Luke 11 · 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 23
No man whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off is to enter the assembly of Jehovah.
No one born of a forbidden union is to enter the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants is to enter the assembly of Jehovah.
No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation none of their descendants is to enter the assembly of Jehovah forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor of Aram-naharaim to curse you. But Jehovah your God refused to listen to Balaam; Jehovah your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Jehovah your God loved you. You are not to seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.
You are not to detest an Edomite, because he is your brother. You are not to detest an Egyptian, because you were a foreigner in his land. Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of Jehovah.
When you go out as an army against your enemies, you are to guard yourselves from every evil thing.
If there is a man among you who becomes not tahor because of a nighttime occurrence, then he is to go outside the camp; he is not to come inside the camp. But when evening approaches he is to wash himself with water, and at sunset he may come back into the camp.
You are to have a designated place outside the camp where you go, and you are to have a digging tool among your equipment. When you sit down outside, you are to dig with it and turn back to cover what comes from you. For Jehovah your God walks in the middle of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies into your hand; therefore your camp is to be set apart, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from following you.
You are not to hand over to his master a slave who escapes to you from his master. He is to live with you, in your midst, in the place that he chooses within one of your towns wherever it is good for him; you are not to oppress him.
None of the daughters of Israel is to be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel is to be a cult prostitute. You are not to bring the payment of a prostitute or the price of a dog into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow, because both of these are detestable to Jehovah your God.
You are not to charge interest to your brother—interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that may be loaned at interest. To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you are not to charge interest, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to in the land that you are entering to possess.
When you make a vow to Jehovah your God, you are not to delay fulfilling it, because Jehovah your God will surely require it from you, and it would become sin for you. But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not become sin for you. What comes out of your lips you are to keep and perform, just as you voluntarily vowed to Jehovah your God what you promised with your mouth.
When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes until you are satisfied, but you are not to put any into your container. When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you are not to swing a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
Deuteronomy 24
When a man takes a wife and becomes her husband, if she does not find favor in his eyes because he finds in her something indecent, he is to write her a certificate of divorce, put it into her hand, and send her away from his house. When she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the later husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it into her hand, and sends her away from his house, or if the later husband who took her as his wife dies, then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable before Jehovah. You are not to bring guilt on the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance.
When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or be assigned any duty; he is to be free at home for one year and make his wife happy.
No one is to take a pair of millstones or the upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.
If a man is found kidnapping one of his brothers from the sons of Israel and treats him as merchandise or sells him, that kidnapper is to die. So you are to remove the evil from your midst.
Guard yourselves carefully in cases of skin disease, observing diligently and doing according to all that the priests, the Levites, instruct you; be careful to do exactly as I commanded them. Remember what Jehovah your God did to Miriam on the road when you came out of Egypt.
When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you are not to go into his house to take his pledge. You are to stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan is to bring the pledge out to you. If he is a poor man, you are not to sleep holding his pledge. You are to return the pledge to him at sunset, so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before Jehovah your God.
You are not to oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the foreigners living within your towns. You are to give him his wages on the same day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on it; otherwise he may cry out against you to Jehovah, and it will become sin for you.
Fathers are not to be put to death because of children, and children are not to be put to death because of fathers; each person is to be put to death for his own sin.
You are not to distort justice due to a foreigner or to an orphan, and you are not to take a widow’s garment as a pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Jehovah your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this.
When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it is to remain for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
When you beat your olive trees, you are not to go over the branches again; what remains is to be for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to glean it afterward; what remains is to be for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.
Deuteronomy 25
If there is a dispute between men and they come to court, and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge is to have him lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of blows appropriate to his guilt. He may give him forty blows but not more; otherwise, if he gives more blows than these, your brother would be degraded before your eyes.
You are not to muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain.
If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to marry outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother is to go to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. The firstborn whom she bears is to carry on the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be wiped out from Israel.
But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife is to go up to the gate to the elders and say: My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me. Then the elders of his city are to summon him and speak to him, and if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then his brother’s wife is to come up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and declare: This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s household. And his name is to be called in Israel: The house of the one whose sandal was removed.
If two men are fighting together, and the wife of one comes near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and seizes his private parts, then you are to cut off her hand; your eye is not to pity.
You are not to have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You are not to have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. You are to have a full and just weight; you are to have a full and just measure, so that your days may be long in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. For everyone who does these things—everyone who acts unjustly—is detestable to Jehovah your God.
Remember what Amalek did to you on the road when you came out of Egypt—how he met you on the road and attacked those lagging behind you, all the weak ones at your rear, when you were tired and worn out, and he did not fear God. Therefore, when Jehovah your God gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens; you are not to forget.
Deuteronomy 26
When you enter the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance and you take possession of it and live in it, you are to take some of the first of all the produce of the soil that you harvest from your land that Jehovah your God is giving you, and you are to put it into a container and go to the place that Jehovah your God will choose for his name to dwell there. You are to go to the priest who is serving in those days and say to him: I declare today to Jehovah your God that I have come into the land that Jehovah swore to our ancestors to give us.
Then the priest is to take the container from your hand and set it down before the altar of Jehovah your God. And you are to declare before Jehovah your God: My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. But the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried out to Jehovah, the God of our ancestors, and Jehovah heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders. And he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Now look—I have brought the first of the produce of the soil that you, Jehovah, have given me. Then you are to set it down before Jehovah your God and bow down before Jehovah your God. You are to rejoice in all the good that Jehovah your God has given to you and to your household—you, the Levite, and the foreigner who is in your midst.
When you finish setting aside all the tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tenth, and you give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that they may eat within your towns and be satisfied, then you are to say before Jehovah your God: I have removed the set-apart portion from my house, and I have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten them. I have not eaten any of it while tamé, and I have not given any of it for the dead. I have listened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that you commanded me.
Look down from your set-apart dwelling, from the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, just as you swore to our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.
Today Jehovah your God is commanding you to do these regulations and these judgments; you are to keep and do them with all your heart and with all your being. You have declared today that Jehovah is your God, and that you will walk in his ways and keep his regulations, his commandments, and his judgments, and listen to his voice. And Jehovah has declared today that you are his treasured people, just as he promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, for praise, for reputation, and for honor, and that you are to be a set-apart people to Jehovah your God, just as he has spoken.
Luke 11
He was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father,
may your name be regarded as holy.
May your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not bring us into testing.’”
He said to them, “Which of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey and I have nothing to set before him,’ and the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
“So I tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Which of you who is a father, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you, being flawed, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father give the holy spirit to those who ask him?”
He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon went out, the person who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, testing him, kept asking for a sign from heaven.
But he, knowing their thoughts, said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against itself falls. If the adversary is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people cast them out? They will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
“When a strong person, fully armed, guards their own house, their possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers them, that person takes away the armor in which they trusted and divides the spoil. The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest. Not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more harmful than itself, and they enter and live there, and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”
As he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”
But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
As the crowds increased, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the south will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon—and look, something greater than Solomon is here. The people of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah—and look, something greater than Jonah is here.
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place or under a container, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear, your whole body is full of light; but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. So consider whether the light in you is darkness. If your whole body is full of light, with no part dark, it will be completely bright, like a lamp shining on you.”
While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to eat with him, and he went in and reclined at the table. The Pharisee was surprised that he did not first immerse himself before the meal. But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones, did not the one who made the outside also make the inside? Instead, give what is inside as generosity, and everything will be clean for you.
“But woe to you Pharisees, because you give a tenth of mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you should have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
One of the legal experts said, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.”
He said, “Woe also to you legal experts, because you load people with burdens hard to carry, and you yourselves do not touch them with one of your fingers. Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve their actions: they killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation—from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.
“Woe to you legal experts, because you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
As he went away, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait to catch him in something he might say.
Commentary - Day 60
Deuteronomy 23–26 · Luke 11
Generations are counted to the tenth and the third, lineage is spoken aloud, and entrance follows what was remembered about bread not given and Balaam hired to curse on the road. Some are named as excluded, others admitted after counted generations, and the assembly forms according to what had been spoken about earlier encounters along the journey.
Within the camp, movement outward and inward follows ordered washing and return. A man leaves the camp after a nighttime occurrence, remains outside, washes with water toward evening, and reenters at sunset. A digging tool travels with the equipment of war so that what comes from the body is covered outside the camp. The ground is turned back over what is buried, because the presence moving through the camp requires that nothing indecent remain uncovered where it walks.
A slave escaping from his master is not returned but allowed to live within the towns in a place he chooses. Payment earned through prostitution is not brought into the house, and interest toward a brother is withheld even while lending practices toward foreigners differ. Words spoken in vows remain bound to the mouth that uttered them, and what is promised is carried out without delay.
In vineyards and grain fields, eating is allowed where standing produce grows, yet storing into containers is forbidden. Grapes are eaten by hand but not gathered into vessels, and grain heads are plucked but not cut with a sickle. Satisfaction remains distinct from possession, and the boundary between the two is marked by what the hand holds and what it leaves behind.
Certificates of divorce are written, placed into hands, and carried away from the house. Once separation occurs, the earlier path is not retraced. Millstones remain untouched as pledges, protecting the means of grinding grain, and kidnappers are removed from among the people so that persons are not treated as merchandise.
Loans remain outside the threshold of houses, and pledges are returned at sunset so that garments remain through the night. Hired workers receive wages before the sun sets, and responsibility for wrongdoing remains with the one who committed it. Garments belonging to widows remain unclaimed, and justice toward foreigners and orphans follows the memory of deliverance from Egypt.
Forgotten sheaves remain in the field, olives stay on the branches, and grapes remain on the vine for the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. The edges of harvest are not cleared a second time, leaving portions behind for those who depend on what remains after the first gathering passes.
Judges determine the number of blows that follow guilt, keeping punishment measured and limited. Oxen tread grain without muzzles, eating while labor continues. A widow stands before elders at the gate when a brother refuses his duty, removing his sandal and speaking before witnesses so that the refusal becomes publicly known.
Weights and measures are kept equal within bags and houses, preventing difference between large and small standards. Scales are balanced before trade occurs, and memory of Amalek remains attached to the journey—an attack against the weary at the rear that must not be forgotten once rest is given.
When produce ripens in the land, first portions are gathered into a basket and carried to the priest. The container is placed before the altar, and words recount the journey from wandering ancestor to settled inheritance—descent into Egypt, affliction, deliverance, and arrival into a land flowing with milk and honey. The basket is set down, the speaker bows, and rejoicing spreads to the Levite and the foreigner present in the place.
Tithes separated in the third year are distributed within towns so that dependents eat and are satisfied. Spoken declarations accompany the act: acknowledgment that commands were kept, portions were not misused, and remembrance was maintained. Words rise toward heaven requesting blessing upon the land already given.
Prayer begins with directed speech: the name regarded as holy, the kingdom requested to come, daily bread asked for, and forgiveness spoken alongside forgiveness extended to others. A door shut at midnight opens after repeated knocking until bread is given to the traveler. Requests continue until provision answers need.
A mute spirit leaves a man, restoring speech, yet accusations arise questioning the source of power. A fully armed guard watches his house until one stronger arrives, overpowers him, removes the armor in which he trusted, and divides the spoil. A swept house left empty later receives returning spirits, showing that cleared spaces do not remain empty unless filled.
Crowds gather seeking signs, yet comparisons are drawn to earlier witnesses—Jonah before Nineveh and the queen of the south before Solomon. Lamps are placed on stands so that those entering see the light, and the condition of the eye determines whether brightness fills the body or darkness spreads within it.
At a meal, the outside of the cup is cleaned while greed and wickedness remain inside. Tithes are counted leaf by leaf, yet justice and love are neglected. Seats of honor are sought in public places, and tombs are built for prophets whose deaths were approved by earlier generations. Keys meant to open entry instead block access, preventing those who approach from entering.
Across these passages, containers, thresholds, measures, and spoken words appear repeatedly. Baskets are set before the altar, scales are balanced before exchange, and doors are opened after repeated knocking.
Entry into the assembly is limited by counted generations, and the camp is kept clean with washing, tools, and covered ground. Loans are handled at thresholds, wages are paid before sunset, and forgotten sheaves, olives, and grapes remain for the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow. First produce is placed in a basket and brought to the priest while the speaker recounts the journey from Egypt into the land.
In Luke, prayer is taught with requests for daily bread and forgiveness, a door at midnight opens after repeated knocking, a mute spirit is cast out, lamps are set on stands, and cups are cleaned outwardly while inner greed remains. Baskets, scales, and doors appear throughout, showing actions taking place within ordered boundaries prepared beforehand.
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