As is our New Year tradition, let’s look at every Book of the Bible with 20 chapters and 23 verses and see what’s in there –
Exodus 20:23 – 23 You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.
Leviticus 20:23 – 23 Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.
Numbers 20:23 – 23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying,
Judges 20:23 – 23 The sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall we again draw near for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against him.”
1 Samuel 20:23 – 23 As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.”
2 Samuel 20:23 – 23 Now Joab was over the whole army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites;
1 Kings 20:23 – 23 Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we; but rather let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they.
2 Chronicles 20:23 – 23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
Job 20:23 – 23 “When he fills his belly, God will send His fierce anger on him and will rain it on him while he is eating.
Proverbs 20:23 – 23 Differing weights are an abomination to the Lord, and a false scale is not good.
Ezekiel 20:23 – 23 Also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands,
Matthew 20:23 – 23 He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”
Luke 20:23 – 23 But He detected their trickery and said to them,
John 20:23 – 23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
Acts 20:23 – 23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
As I always feel compelled to say, there is nothing to this exercise other than I enjoy it as a fun play on the new year, however, if there’s a verse within these that I would be compelled to commit to heart for the year 2023, it would be the first one in the list – Exodus 20:23 – 23 You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.
I would choose this because it is the negative perspective of the greatest command, Deuteronomy 6:5, which expresses the same thing, but in the positive perspective: 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Much love and happy 2023! May we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ together!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
