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18 “And there shall not be for the Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, a plot of ground and an inheritance with Israel, rather they may eat an offering made by fire as their inheritance,[a] for Yahweh. 2 And there shall not be for them[b] an inheritance of land in the midst of his brothers; rather Yahweh is his inheritance, just as he promised[c] to them.[d]
3 Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from those who sacrifice the sacrifice,[e] whether it is an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach. 4 The firstfruits[f] of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil and the firstfruits[g] of the fleece of your sheep you shall give to him. 5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him from among all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, he and his sons forever.[h]
6 And if a[i] Levite comes from one of your towns[j] from anywhere in Israel[k] where he is residing, he may come whenever he desires,[l] to the place that Yahweh will choose, 7 and he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God, just like all his brothers, the Levites who stand there[m] before[n] Yahweh. 8 They shall eat equal portions,[o] apart from what he may receive from the sale of his patrimony.[p]
9 “When you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, you must not learn to do like the detestable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or one who practices divination,[q] or an interpreter of signs,[r] or an augur,[s] or sorcerer, 11 or one who casts magic spells, or one who consults a spirit of the dead,[t] or spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead.[u] 12 For everyone doing these things is detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you.[v] 13 You must be blameless before Yahweh your God. 14 For these nations that you are about to dispossess listen to interpreters of signs[w] and to diviners, but Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do the same.
15 “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen,[x] and to him you shall listen. 16 This is according to all that you asked[y] from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, saying,[z] ‘I do not want again to hear[aa] the voice of Yahweh my God, and I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!’ 17 And Yahweh said to me, ‘They are right in what they have said. 18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their countrymen[ab] like you, and I will place[ac] my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.[ad] 19 And then[ae] the man that will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I will hold accountable. 20 However, the prophet that behaves presumptuously by speaking a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, and who speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say to yourself,[af] ‘How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken to him?’ 22 Whenever what the prophet spoke in the name of Yahweh, the thing does not take place and does not come about, that is the thing that Yahweh has not spoken to him.[ag] Presumptuously the prophet spoke it; you shall not fear that[ah] prophet.”
19 “When Yahweh your God has exterminated[ai] the nations concerning whom Yahweh your God is giving to you their land, and you have dispossessed them, and you have settled in their towns and in their houses, 2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it. 3 You shall prepare the roads[aj] for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that it will be available for any manslayer to flee there.[ak]
4 “Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live there who has killed his neighbor unintentionally,[al] and he did not hate him previously.[am] 5 For example,[an] when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron head slips from the handle of the tool and strikes his neighbor and he dies, then he may flee to one of these cities, and so he may live. 6 He does this lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because he is hot with anger[ao] and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance to the city of refuge, and so he kills him,[ap] but he did not deserve a death sentence,[aq] because he was not hating him before.[ar] 7 Therefore I am commanding you, saying,[as] ‘You shall set apart three cities.’ 8 Then if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory just as he swore to your ancestors[at] and gives[au] to you all the land that he promised[av] to give to your ancestors,[aw] 9 then if you diligently observe this entire commandment[ax] that I am commanding you today[ay] by loving Yahweh your God and by going[az] in his ways at all times,[ba] then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three. 10 Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed[bb] in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance and thereby bloodguilt would be on you.[bc]
11 But if someone hates[bd] his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up[be] against him and murders him,[bf] and the murderer flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death. 13 Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that good will be directed toward you.[bg]
14 “You shall not move the boundary marker of your neighbor that former generations[bh] set up on your property in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it. 15 The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict[bi] with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person[bj] committed; on the evidence[bk] of two witnesses or on the evidence[bl] of three witnesses a charge shall be sustained.[bm] 16 If a malicious witness[bn] gets up to accuse[bo] anyone to testify against him falsely, 17 then the two men to whom the legal dispute pertains[bp] shall stand before[bq] Yahweh, before[br] the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 Then judges shall make a thorough inquiry, and if it turns out[bs] that the witness is a false witness and he testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he meant[bt] to do to his brother, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest[bu] shall hear and shall fear, and they shall not continue to do such a thing again[bv] as this evil thing in your midst. 21 You must show no pity:[bw] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
20 “If you go out to war against your enemies and you see a horse and a chariot, an army[bx] larger that you, you shall not be afraid because of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, the one who brought you from the land of Egypt. 2 And then[by] when you approach the battle, then the priest shall come near and speak to the troops. 3 And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are near today[bz] to the battle against your enemies; do not lose heart;[ca] you shall not be afraid, and you shall not panic, and you shall not be terrified because of them,[cb] 4 for Yahweh your God is going with you to fight for you against your enemies to help you.’ 5 And the officials shall speak to the troops, saying,[cc] ‘Who is the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to this house, so that he does not die in battle and another man[cd] dedicates it. 6 And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed it? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man[ce] enjoys it. 7 And who is the man who got engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man[cf] marries her.’ 8 And the officials shall continue to speak to the troops, and they shall say, ‘What man[cg] is afraid and disheartened?[ch] Let him go, and let him return to his house, and let him not cause the heart of his brothers to melt[ci] like his.’ 9 And when the officials have finished speaking[cj] to the army troops, then they shall appoint commanders of divisions at the head of the troops.
10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you must offer it peace.[ck] 11 And then[cl] if they accept your terms of peace[cm] and they surrender to you,[cn] and then[co] all the people inhabiting it[cp] shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you. 12 But if they do not accept your terms of peace[cq] and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.[cr] 13 And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge[cs] of the sword. 14 Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals[ct] and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the far[cu] cities from you, which are not from the cities of these nations located nearby.[cv]
16 But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.[cw] 17 Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites[cx] and the Amorites,[cy] the Canaanites[cz] and the Perizzites,[da] the Hivites,[db] and the Jebusites,[dc] just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.
19 “If[dd] you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them,[de] for you may eat from them,[df] and so you must not cut them[dg] down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege against you?[dh] 20 Only[di] the trees[dj] that you know are not fruit trees[dk] you may destroy and you may cut down, and you may build siege works against that city that is making war with you until it falls.”[dl]
The Transfiguration
28 Now it happened that about eight days after these words, he took along Peter and John and James and[a] went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white, gleaming like lightning.[b] 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and[c] were speaking about his departure which he was about to fulfill[d] in Jerusalem.
32 Now Peter and those with him were very sleepy,[e] but when they[f] became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him. 33 And it happened that as they were going away from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah,” not knowing what he was saying. 34 And while[g] he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud. 35 And a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!” 36 And after the voice had occurred, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
A Demon-possessed Boy Healed
37 Now it happened that on the next day, when[h] they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, saying, “Teacher, I beg you to look with concern on my son, because he is my only son! 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him and suddenly he screams, and it convulses him with foam and rarely withdraws from him, battering him severely. 40 And I begged your disciples that they would expel it, and they were not able to do so.” 41 So Jesus answered and[i] said, “O unbelieving and perverted generation! How long[j] will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here!” 42 And while[k] he was still approaching, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.[l] But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all astounded at the impressiveness of God.
Jesus Predicts His Suffering
But while they[m] were all marveling at all the things that he was doing, he said to his disciples, 44 “You take these words to heart,[n] for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they could not understand it. And they were afraid to ask him about this statement.
The Question About Who Is Greatest
46 And an argument developed among them as to who of them might be greatest. 47 But Jesus, because he[o] knew the thoughts of their hearts, took hold of a child and had him stand beside him 48 and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all—this one is great.”
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us
49 And John answered and[p] said, “Master, we saw someone expelling demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow in company with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not prevent him,[q] because whoever is not against you is for you.”
The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted
A song of Asaph.[a]
73 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those pure of heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped,
3 because I envied the boastful
when I saw the well-being[b] of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains up to their death,
and their bodies are healthy.[c]
5 They do not have ordinary trouble,[d]
and they are not plagued as other people.[e]
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
an outfit of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from fat.[f]
Imaginings overflow their heart.
8 They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;
they speak as though from on high.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue roams the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn there,[g]
and abundant waters are slurped up by them.
11 And they say, “How does God know?”
and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 See, these are the wicked,
and they increase wealth, ever carefree.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 And I have been plagued all day
and rebuked every morning.[h]
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
behold, I would have acted treacherously
against your children’s generation.
16 When I thought about how to understand this,
it was troubling in my eyes
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their fate.
18 Surely you set them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall onto ruin.[i]
19 How they become a desolation in a moment!
They come to a complete end by terrors.
20 Like a dream upon awakening,
when you wake up, O Lord,
you will despise their fleeting form.[j]
21 When my heart was embittered
and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,
22 then I was brutish and ignorant.
With you I was like the beasts.
23 But I am continually with you;
you have hold of my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice,
and afterward you will take me into honor.[k]
25 Whom do I have in the heavens except you?
And with you I have no other desire on earth.
26 My flesh and heart failed,
but God is the strength[l] of my heart and my reward forever.
27 For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.
You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.
28 But as for me, the approach to God is for my good.
I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
in order to tell all your works.
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