17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect^(A) or flaw in it, for that would be detestable^(B) to him.^(C)

² If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant,^{(D) 3} and contrary to my command^(E) has worshiped other gods,^(F) bowing down to them or to the sun^(G) or the moon or the stars in the sky,^{(H) 4} and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true^(I) and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,^{(J) 5} take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.^{(K) 6} On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.^{(L) 7} The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death,^(M) and then the hands of all the people.^(N) You must purge the evil^(O) from among you.

Law Courts

⁸ If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge^(P)—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults^(Q)—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose.^{(R) 9} Go to the Levitical^(S) priests and to the judge^(T) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.^{(U) 10} You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.^{(V) 12} Anyone who shows contempt^(W) for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering^(X) there to the Lord your God is to be put to death.^(Y) You must purge the evil from Israel.^{(Z) 13} All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.^(AA)

The King

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession^(AB) of it and settled in it,^(AC) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”^{(AD) 15} be sure to appoint^(AE) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.^(AF) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses^(AG) for himself^(AH) or make the people return to Egypt^(AI) to get more of them,^(AJ) for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”^{(AK) 17} He must not take many wives,^(AL) or his heart will be led astray.^(AM) He must not accumulate^(AN) large amounts of silver and gold.^(AO)

¹⁸ When he takes the throne^(AP) of his kingdom, he is to write^(AQ) for himself on a scroll a copy^(AR) of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life^(AS) so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees^{(AT) 20} and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law^(AU) to the right or to the left.^(AV) Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.^(AW)

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical^(AX) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings^(AY) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.^{(AZ) 2} They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(BA) as he promised them.^(BB)

³ This is the share due the priests^(BC) from the people who sacrifice a bull^(BD) or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.^{(BE) 4} You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,^{(BF) 5} for the Lord your God has chosen them^(BG) and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister^(BH) in the Lord’s name always.^(BI)

⁶ If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,^{(BJ) 7} he may minister in the name^(BK) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸ He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.^(BL)

Occult Practices

⁹ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate^(BM) the detestable ways^(BN) of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,^(BO) who practices divination^(BP) or sorcery,^(BQ) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,^{(BR) 11} or casts spells,^(BS) or who is a medium or spiritist^(BT) or who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.^{(BU) 13} You must be blameless^(BV) before the Lord your God.^(BW)

The Prophet

¹⁴ The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.^(BX) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. ¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.^(BY) You must listen to him. ¹⁶ For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”^(BZ)

¹⁷ The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet^(CA) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words^(CB) in his mouth.^(CC) He will tell them everything I command him.^{(CD) 19} I myself will call to account^(CE) anyone who does not listen^(CF) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.^{(CG) 20} But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,^(CH) is to be put to death.”^(CI)

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,^(CJ) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.^(CK) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,^(CL) so do not be alarmed.

Cities of Refuge^(CM)

19 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,^{(CN) 2} then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

⁴ This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. ⁵ For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood^(CO) might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. ⁷ This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

⁸ If the Lord your God enlarges your territory,^(CP) as he promised^(CQ) on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, ⁹ because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him^(CR)—then you are to set aside three more cities. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood^(CS) will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.^(CT)

¹¹ But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor,^(CU) and then flees to one of these cities, ¹² the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. ¹³ Show no pity.^(CV) You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood,^(CW) so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴ Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.^(CX)

Witnesses

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^(CY)

¹⁶ If a malicious witness^(CZ) takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, ¹⁷ the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges^(DA) who are in office at the time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation,^(DB) and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.^(DC) You must purge the evil from among you. ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid,^(DD) and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. ²¹ Show no pity:^(DE) life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.^(DF)

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,^(DG) do not be afraid^(DH) of them,^(DI) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with^(DJ) you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. ³ He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted^(DK) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you^(DL) to fight^(DM) for you against your enemies to give you victory.^(DN)”

⁵ The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in^(DO) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. ⁶ Has anyone planted^(DP) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?^(DQ) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. ⁷ Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.^(DR)” ⁸ Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”^{(DS) 9} When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

¹⁰ When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.^{(DT) 11} If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject^(DU) to forced labor^(DV) and shall work for you. ¹² If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. ¹³ When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.^{(DW) 14} As for the women, the children, the livestock^(DX) and everything else in the city,^(DY) you may take these as plunder^(DZ) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. ¹⁵ This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance^(EA) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.^{(EB) 17} Completely destroy^[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,^(EC) and you will sin^(ED) against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?^{[b] 20} However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees^(EE) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two^(A)(B)(C)

10 After this the Lord^(D) appointed seventy-two^[a] others^(E) and sent them two by two^(F) ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.^{(G) 2} He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.^{(H) 3} Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.^{(I) 4} Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

⁵ “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ⁶ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages.^(J) Do not move around from house to house.

⁸ “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.^{(K) 9} Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God^(L) has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you.^(M) Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’^{(N) 12} I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom^(O) than for that town.^(P)

¹³ “Woe to you,^(Q) Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth^(R) and ashes. ¹⁴ But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum,^(S) will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.^[b]

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”^(T)

¹⁷ The seventy-two^(U) returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”^(V)

¹⁸ He replied, “I saw Satan^(W) fall like lightning from heaven.^{(X) 19} I have given you authority to trample on snakes^(Y) and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰ However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”^(Z)

²¹ At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.^(AA) Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²² “All things have been committed to me by my Father.^(AB) No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”^(AC)

²³ Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”^(AD)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan^(AE)

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”^(AF)

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[c];^(AG) and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[d]”^(AH)

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”^(AI)

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself,^(AJ) so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.^{(AK) 32} So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan,^(AL) as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha^(AM) opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary,^(AN) who sat at the Lord’s feet^(AO) listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care^(AP) that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried^(AQ) and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[f](AR) Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer^(AS)(AT)

11 One day Jesus was praying^(AU) in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,^(AV) teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[k] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.^(AZ)

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;^(BA) seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[l] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul^(BB)(BC)

¹⁴ Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed.^{(BD) 15} But some of them said, “By Beelzebul,^(BE) the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.”^{(BF) 16} Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.^(BG)

¹⁷ Jesus knew their thoughts^(BH) and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. ¹⁸ If Satan^(BI) is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God,^(BJ) then the kingdom of God^(BK) has come upon you.

²¹ “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. ²² But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.

²³ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.^(BL)

²⁴ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”^(BM)

²⁷ As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”^(BN)

²⁸ He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God^(BO) and obey it.”^(BP)

The Sign of Jonah^(BQ)

²⁹ As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign,^(BR) but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.^{(BS) 30} For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom;^(BT) and now something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah;^(BU) and now something greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body^(BV)

³³ “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.^{(BW) 34} Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,^[m] your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,^[n] your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law

³⁷ When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table.^{(BX) 38} But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.^(BY)

³⁹ Then the Lord^(BZ) said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.^{(CA) 40} You foolish people!^(CB) Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor,^(CC) and everything will be clean for you.^(CD)

⁴² “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth^(CE) of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.^(CF) You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.^(CG)

⁴³ “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.^(CH)

⁴⁴ “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves,^(CI) which people walk over without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law^(CJ) answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

⁴⁶ Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.^(CK)

⁴⁷ “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.^{(CL) 49} Because of this, God in his wisdom^(CM) said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’^{(CN) 50} Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel^(CO) to the blood of Zechariah,^(CP) who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.^(CQ)

⁵² “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”^(CR)

⁵³ When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, ⁵⁴ waiting to catch him in something he might say.^(CS)