At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.Howeve...  Read More

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if that sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, "Let us follow other gods" . . .  "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your...  Read More

Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess . . . The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take po...  Read More

Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked. Cursed be the day I was born!  . . . For He (God) did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave . . .  Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? Jeremiah 20:13-18 One minute the prophet Jeremiah was extolling the praises of God. The ne...  Read More

You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed.I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.But if I say, "I will not mention His word or speak anymore in His name," His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.I...  Read More

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.  . . . For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner living among you, giving them food and clothing.  . . . He is the one you prai...  Read More

After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my  righteousness."  No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity . . . but on account of the wickedness of these nations.  ....  Read More

Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. The people are strong and tall -- Anakites.   . . .But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; He will subdue them before you. And you will drive them ...  Read More

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe His commands . . .  Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down . . . then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the la...  Read More

The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you . . . until they are destroyed.  Deuteronomy 7:22-23. I can imagine the excitement of the Israelites as they waited expectantly to take possession of the Promised Land. M...  Read More

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.But those who hate Him He will repay to their face by destruction . . .   If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant of love with you . . .   He will love yo...  Read More

When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations . . . nations larger and stronger than you -- and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.Do not intermarry with them.  Do not give your daughters to their so...  Read More