Old/New Testament
Chapter 19
Cities of Refuge. 1 When the Lord, your God, has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, when you have driven them out and you are dwelling in their cities and houses, 2 [a]then set aside three cities in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess. 3 Build roads to them, and divide the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance into three parts so that anyone who has killed another can flee to them. 4 This is the regulation concerning the one who has killed another and flees there to save his life: one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, who did not previously bear him ill will, 5 for example, when a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he is swinging the ax to cut down a tree, and the head of the ax flies off and kills the neighbor. That man may flee to one of the cities to save his life. 6 Otherwise, the relative who seeks blood vengeance might seek him out while he is still blind with rage, and if the distance be too great he would then be able to catch up with him and kill him even though he did not really deserve to die since he did not bear the man any previous ill will.[b] 7 This is why I command you to set aside three cities for yourselves.
8 If the Lord, your God, adds to your territory, as he promised to do to your ancestors, and he gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers, 9 for you have carefully observed all the commandments that I have given you today, to love the Lord, your God, and always walk in his ways, then you will set aside another three cities beside the first three. 10 Do this so that innocent blood not be shed in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance. Thus, you will not be guilty of bloodshed. 11 But if a man bears ill will toward his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and jumps out at him and grievously wounds him so that he dies, and then he flees to one of these cities, 12 the elders of his town will send after him, bring him back, and hand him over to the relative who seeks blood vengeance so that he might be put to death. 13 Show him no pity. You must purge the guilt of shedding innocent blood from your midst so that things may go well with you.
14 Removing Landmarks. Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone that was set up long ago to mark your inheritance in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess.
15 Witnesses. One witness is not enough to convict someone of any crime or any offense that he might have committed. The matter is to be decided by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 16 If a false witness arises to accuse another of a crime, 17 the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges who are fulfilling their term. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation. If a witness proves to be a liar, having falsely testified against another, 19 then whatever would have been done to the other is to be done to him. You must purge this evil from your midst. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be filled with fear and no one will ever do such an evil thing in your midst again. 21 Show no pity: a life for a life,[c] an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a foot for a foot.
Chapter 20
Rules of Battle. 1 When you go out to fight your enemies and you see horses and chariots and more troops than you have, do not be afraid of them on account of the Lord, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 When you are about to go into battle, have the priest approach and speak to the people. 3 He is to say to them, “Hear, O Israel, you are about to go into battle today against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid. Do not tremble or panic before them. 4 The Lord, your God, goes forth with you to fight against your enemies to deliver you.” 5 The officers will then say to the people: “If anyone has built a house and not yet dedicated it, he is to go home lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. 6 And if anyone has planted a vineyard and has not yet enjoyed its fruit, let him go home lest he die in battle and another eat its fruit. 7 And if anyone has become betrothed to a woman and has not yet married her, let him go home lest he die in battle and another marry her.”[d] 8 Even then the officers will say to the people, “If anyone is fearful or fainthearted, let him go home lest his brethren become fainthearted as well.”
9 When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they are to appoint commanders to lead the people. 10 When you approach a city to do battle with it, offer it terms of peace. 11 If they accept your terms of peace and open their gates to you, then all the people who live there shall be subject to forced labor done on your behalf. 12 If they refuse your terms of peace, then you will do battle with them, besieging that city. 13 When the Lord, your God, delivers it into your hands, you shall put every man in it to death. 14 The women, the children, the cattle, and everything else in the city will be plunder to you. You may take as your own the spoil of your enemies that the Lord, your God, has delivered over to you.
15 This is how you are to deal with all the distant cities, the cities that do not belong to these nations. 16 But in these cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, you are not to leave anything alive. 17 Wipe them out, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as the Lord, your God, has commanded you. 18 Otherwise they will teach you to perform the abominations that they practice when they worship their gods, and you would be sinning against the Lord, your God.
19 Preserving Trees. When you besiege a city and it lasts a long time, and you do battle with it and capture it, do not cut down its trees with an ax, for you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down! Are trees in the field like people that you would lay siege to them? 20 However, you can cut down those trees that are not fruit trees to use on the siege-works until the city you are fighting falls.
Chapter 21
Sacrifice for Untraceable Killing.[e] 1 If the body of a dead man is found lying on the ground of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 have your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3 The elders of the town that is nearest to the body are to take a heifer that has never worked nor worn a yoke. 4 The elders of that town will then lead it down to a valley with a flowing stream that has not been plowed nor planted. In that valley they are to slit the heifer’s throat. 5 The priests, the sons of Levi, will then come forward, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all disputes and cases of assault. 6 The elders of the town that is nearest to the body will wash their hands[f] over the heifer whose throat had been slit in the valley, 7 and they will proclaim, “Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it shed. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, O Lord, whom you have redeemed, and do not hold your people responsible for the shedding of innocent blood.” This shall atone for the bloodshed. 9 In this way you will have purged yourself of the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you will have done what is right in the sight of the Lord.
10 Marrying a Female Captive. When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your hands and you take them captive, 11 if you see a beautiful woman among them and you desire her, you can take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your house, and have her shave her head and trim her nails 13 and have her throw out the clothes she was wearing when she was taken captive. She is to live in your house for a full month and mourn her father and her mother. Then you may go to her and be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. You are not to sell her or treat her like a slave, for you have already humbled her.
15 Law of the Firstborn.[g] If a man has two wives, and he loves one and dislikes the other, and they both bear him children, both the one who is loved and the one who is disliked, and the son of the one who is disliked is the firstborn, 16 then when he gives his inheritance to his sons, he is not to give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the woman he loves in preference to the true firstborn, the son of the woman he dislikes. 17 He must acknowledge the son of the woman whom he disliked as the firstborn, giving him a double portion of everything that he owned. That son is the first sign of his strength, and the right of firstborn belongs to him.
18 Punishing a Rebellious Son. If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to his father or his mother, and will not heed them even when he is disciplined, 19 then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the town gate. 20 They are to say to the town elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not listen to us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of that town will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from your midst. All of Israel will hear of it and be filled with fear.
22 Burying a Criminal.[h] If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hanging from a tree, 23 you are not to leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that day, for anyone who is hung from a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.
21 False Messiahs and False Prophets.[a]“Therefore, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders to lead astray God’s chosen ones, if that were possible. 23 Be on your guard! I have forewarned you about everything.
24 The Coming of the Son of Man.[b]“But in those days, following that distress,
the sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give forth its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the heavenly powers will be shaken.
26 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory. 27 And he will send forth his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
28 The Parable of the Fig Tree.[c]“Learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs become tender and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things come to pass, know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things have taken place.[d] 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
32 The Day and Hour Unknown.[e]“But as for that day or that hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on your guard and keep alert, because you do not know when the time will come.
34 “It is like a man going on a journey. He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his own duties to perform, and he commands the doorkeeper to remain alert. 35 Therefore, keep watch, for you do not know when the master of the house will return, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 lest he arrive unexpectedly and find you asleep. 37 What I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake!”
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