Daily Lectionary

Deuteronomy 13:1-18

¹ “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,
² and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’
³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
⁴ You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.
⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
⁶ “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,
⁷ some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other,
⁸ you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him.
⁹ But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
¹⁰ You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
¹¹ And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
¹² “If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to dwell there,
¹³ that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known,
¹⁴ then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you,
¹⁵ you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.
¹⁶ You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.
¹⁷ None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers,
¹⁸ if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God. (ESV)

Matthew 10:1-23

¹ And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
² The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
⁴ Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
⁷ And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
⁹ Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
¹¹ And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.
¹² As you enter the house, greet it.
¹³ And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
¹⁴ And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
¹⁶ “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
¹⁷ Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,
¹⁸ and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
¹⁹ When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.
²⁰ For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
²¹ Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,
²² and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
²³ When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (ESV)