Portion for the Levites

18 “^(A)The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His ^[a]property. ^2 (B)They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He ^[b]promised them.

³ “^(C)Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. ⁴ You shall give him the ^(D)first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. ^5 (E)For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to ^(F)stand to serve in the name of the Lord always.

⁶ “Now if a Levite comes from any of your ^[c]towns throughout Israel where he ^(G)resides, and he comes ^[d]whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, ⁷ then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. ^8 (H)They shall eat ^[e]equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

⁹ “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to ^[f](I)imitate the detestable things of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone ^(J)who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a ^(K)soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹ or one who casts a spell, ^(L)or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and ^(M)because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. ^13 (N)You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to ^(O)soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵ “^(P)The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. ¹⁶ This is ^(Q)in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ ¹⁷ And ^(R)the Lord said to me, ‘They have ^[g]spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and ^(S)I will put My words in his mouth, and ^(T)he shall speak to them everything that I command him. ^19 (U)And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will ^[h]require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet who speaks a word ^(V)presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(W)which he speaks in the name of other gods, ^[i]that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ ^22 (X)When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it ^(Y)presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.

Cities of Refuge

19 “^(Z)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (AA)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[j]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[k]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, ^[l]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

⁴ “^(AB)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[m]kills his friend ^[n]unintentionally, ^[o]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[p]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[q]handle and ^[r]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[s]him ^[t]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[u]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸ “And if the Lord your God ^(AC)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[v]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[w]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(AD)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(AE)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(AF)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(AG)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[x]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 [y](AH)You shall not pity him, but ^(AI)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

¹⁴ “^(AJ)You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to ^[z]possess.

¹⁵ “^(AK)A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin ^[aa]that he commits; on the ^[ab]testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. ^16 (AL)If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both people who have the dispute shall stand ^(AM)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges ^(AN)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then ^(AO)you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. ²⁰ And ^(AP)the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹ So ^[ac](AQ)you shall not show pity: ^(AR)life for life, ^(AS)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Laws of Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see ^(AT)horses, chariots, and people more numerous than you, ^(AU)do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. ² When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people. ³ He shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. ^(AV)Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them, ⁴ for the Lord your God ^(AW)is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ ⁵ The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house but has not ^(AX)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. ⁶ And who is the man that has planted a vineyard but has not ^[ad]put it to use? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man ^[ae]would put it to use. ^7 (AY)And who is the man that is ^[af]betrothed to a woman and has not ^[ag]married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would ^[ah]marry her.’ ⁸ Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘^(AZ)Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that ^[ai]he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart!’ ⁹ And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰ “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall ^[aj]offer it terms of peace. ¹¹ And if it ^[ak]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your ^(BA)forced labor and serve you. ¹² However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(BB)you shall strike all the ^[al]men in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ However, the women, the children, ^(BC)the animals, and everything that is in the city, all of its spoils, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall ^[am]use the spoils of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ This is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations ^[an]nearby. ^16 (BD)Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive. ¹⁷ Instead, you shall ^[ao]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they will not teach you to do ^[ap](BE)all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, ^[aq]by which you would ^(BF)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city for a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, so you shall not cut them down. For ^[ar]is the tree of the field a human, that it should ^[as]be besieged by you? ²⁰ Only the trees that you know ^[at]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, so that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war against you until it falls.

Judas Betrays Jesus

18 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(A)He went away with His disciples across ^(B)the ^[a]ravine of the Kidron, where there was ^(C)a garden which He entered ^[b]with His disciples. ² Now Judas, who was ^[c]betraying Him, also knew the place, because Jesus had ^(D)often met there with His disciples. ^3 (E)So Judas, having obtained ^(F)the Roman ^[d]cohort and ^(G)officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, *came there with lanterns, ^(H)torches, and weapons. ⁴ Jesus therefore, ^(I)knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, came out into the open and *said to them, “^(J)Whom are you seeking?” ⁵ They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He *said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. ⁶ Now then, when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. ⁷ He then asked them again, “^(K)Whom are you seeking?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you are seeking Me, let these men go on their way.” ⁹ This took place so that the word which He spoke would be fulfilled: “^(L)Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, ^(M)since he had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; ^(N)the cup which the Father has given Me, am I not to drink it?”

Jesus before the Priests

^12 (O)So ^(P)the Roman ^[e]cohort, the ^[f]commander, and the ^(Q)officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him, ¹³ and brought Him to ^(R)Annas first; for he was the father-in-law of ^(S)Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that ^(T)it was in their best interest for one man to die in behalf of the people.

^15 (U)Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered with Jesus into ^(V)the courtyard of the high priest, ^16 (W)but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. ^17 (X)Then the slave woman who was the doorkeeper *said to Peter, “^(Y)You are not also one of this Man’s disciples, are you?” He *said, “I am not.” ¹⁸ Now the slaves and the ^(Z)officers were standing there, having made ^(AA)a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were ^(AB)warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.

^19 (AC)The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. ²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I ^(AD)have spoken openly to the world; I always ^(AE)taught in ^[g]synagogues and ^(AF)in the temple area, where all the Jews congregate; and I said nothing in secret. ²¹ Why are you asking Me? Ask those who have heard what I spoke to them. Look: these people know what I said.” ²² But when He said this, one of the ^(AG)officers, who was standing nearby, ^(AH)struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” ^23 (AI)Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?” ^24 (AJ)So Annas sent Him bound to ^(AK)Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter’s Denial of Jesus

^25 (AL)Now ^(AM)Simon Peter was still standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “^(AN)You are not one of His disciples as well, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the high priest, who was related to the one ^(AO)whose ear Peter cut off, *said, “Did I not see you in ^(AP)the garden with Him?” ²⁷ Peter then denied it again, and immediately ^(AQ)a rooster crowed.

Jesus before Pilate

^28 (AR)Then they *brought Jesus from ^(AS)Caiaphas into ^(AT)the ^[h]Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter ^(AU)the ^[i]Praetorium, so that ^(AV)they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. ^29 (AW)Therefore Pilate came out to them and *said, “What accusation are you bringing against this Man?” ³⁰ They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not ^[j]a criminal, we would not have handed Him over to you.” ³¹ So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not ^[k]permitted to put anyone to death.” ³² This happened so that ^(AX)the word of Jesus which He said, indicating what kind of death He was going to die, would be fulfilled.

³³ Therefore Pilate ^(AY)entered the Praetorium again, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “^(AZ)You are the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Are you saying this ^[l]on your own, or did others tell you about Me?” ³⁵ Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me; what have You done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, “^(BA)My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not ^[m]of this realm.” ³⁷ Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “^(BB)You say correctly that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: ^(BC)to testify to the truth. ^(BD)Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” ³⁸ Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”

And after saying this, he ^(BE)came out again to the Jews and *said to them, “^(BF)I find no grounds at all for charges in ^[n]His case. ^39 (BG)However, you have a custom that I release one prisoner ^[o]for you at the Passover; therefore do you wish that I release ^[p]for you the King of the Jews?” ⁴⁰ So they shouted again, saying, “^(BH)Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a rebel.