²⁴ For the Lord your God is a consuming fire,^(A) a jealous God.^(B)

²⁵ After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt^(C) and make any kind of idol,^(D) doing evil^(E) in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, ²⁶ I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses^(F) against you^(G) this day that you will quickly perish^(H) from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will scatter^(I) you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive^(J) among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ There you will worship man-made gods^(K) of wood and stone,^(L) which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.^{(M) 29} But if from there you seek^(N) the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart^(O) and with all your soul.^{(P) 30} When you are in distress^(Q) and all these things have happened to you, then in later days^(R) you will return^(S) to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a merciful^(T) God; he will not abandon^(U) or destroy^(V) you or forget^(W) the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

The Lord Is God

³² Ask^(X) now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth;^(Y) ask from one end of the heavens to the other.^(Z) Has anything so great^(AA) as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? ³³ Has any other people heard the voice of God^[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?^{(AB) 34} Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation,^(AC) by testings,^(AD) by signs^(AE) and wonders,^(AF) by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,^(AG) or by great and awesome deeds,^(AH) like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

³⁵ You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.^{(AI) 36} From heaven he made you hear his voice^(AJ) to discipline^(AK) you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. ³⁷ Because he loved^(AL) your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,^{(AM) 38} to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance,^(AN) as it is today.

³⁹ Acknowledge^(AO) and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.^{(AP) 40} Keep^(AQ) his decrees and commands,^(AR) which I am giving you today, so that it may go well^(AS) with you and your children after you and that you may live long^(AT) in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

⁸ Observe therefore all the commands^(A) 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,^{(B) 9} and so that you may live long^(C) in the land the Lord swore^(D) to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(E) 10} The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt,^(F) from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys^(G) that drinks rain from heaven.^{(H) 12} It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes^(I) of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

¹³ So if you faithfully obey^(J) the commands I am giving you today—to love^(K) the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul^(L)— ¹⁴ then I will send rain^(M) on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains,^(N) so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass^(O) in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.^(P)

¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.^{(Q) 17} Then the Lord’s anger^(R) will burn against you, and he will shut up^(S) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,^(T) and you will soon perish^(U) from the good land the Lord is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.^{(V) 19} Teach them to your children,^(W) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.^{(X) 20} Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,^{(Y) 21} so that your days and the days of your children may be many^(Z) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.^(AA)

⁷ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

¹² Who is wise^(BD) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

¹³ The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.^{(BE) 14} Instead, they have followed^(BF) the stubbornness of their hearts;^(BG) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food^(BH) and drink poisoned water.^{(BI) 16} I will scatter them among nations^(BJ) that neither they nor their ancestors have known,^(BK) and I will pursue them with the sword^(BL) until I have made an end of them.”^(BM)

¹⁷ This is what the Lord Almighty says:

²² Say, “This is what the Lord declares:

²³ This is what the Lord says:

¹¹ “I baptize you with^[a] water for repentance.^(A) But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with^[b] the Holy Spirit^(B) and fire.^{(C) 12} His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”^(D)

The Baptism of Jesus^(E)

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.^{(F) 14} But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened,^(G) and he saw the Spirit of God^(H) descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven^(I) said, “This is my Son,^(J) whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^(K)

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides!^(A) You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’^{(B) 17} You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?^{(C) 18} You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?^{(D) 20} Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells^(E) in it. ²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.^(F)

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth^(G) of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.^(H) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times^(A)

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another;^(B) every one will be thrown down.”