Cities and Pasturelands Allotted to Levi

21 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came ^(A)to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ² And they said to them ^(B)at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, ^(C)“The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” ³ So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

⁴ The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest ^(D)received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

⁵ And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot ^(E)from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶ The ^(F)Gershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

⁷ The ^(G)Merarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸ These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel ^(H)gave by lot to the Levites, ^(I)as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹ Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, ¹⁰ which went to ^(J)the descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first. ^11 (K)They gave them ^(L)Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, ^(M)in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it. ¹² But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³ And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, ^(N)the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, ^(O)Libnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴ Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵ Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶ Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes; ¹⁷ then out of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(P)Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹ The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

^20 (Q)As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ To them were given Shechem, ^(R)the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, ²² Kibzaim with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²³ and out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, ²⁴ Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²⁵ and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. ²⁶ The cities of the clans of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all with their pasturelands.

^27 (S)And to the Gershonites, one of the clans of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, ^(T)the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities; ²⁸ and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its pasturelands, En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁰ and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ³¹ Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities; ³² and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, ^(U)the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities. ³³ The cities of the several clans of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

^34 (V)And to the rest of the Levites, the Merarite clans, were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, ³⁵ Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁶ and out of the tribe of Reuben, ^(W)Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁸ and out of the tribe of Gad, ^(X)Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, ^(Y)Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ^39 (Z)Heshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰ As for the cities of the several Merarite clans, that is, the remainder of the clans of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities.

^41 (AA)The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands. ⁴² These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities.

^43 (AB)Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. ^44 (AC)And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. ^(AD)Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for ^(AE)the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. ^45 (AF)Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ² and said to them, “You have kept ^(AG)all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you ^(AH)and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. ³ You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. ^4 (AI)And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ^(AJ)which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ^5 (AK)Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ^(AL)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶ So Joshua ^(AM)blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷ Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ^(AN)but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, ⁸ he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^(AO)Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” ⁹ So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ^(AP)to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

¹⁰ And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. ¹¹ And the people of Israel ^(AQ)heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” ¹² And when the people of Israel heard of it, ^(AR)the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

¹³ Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, ^(AS)Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, ¹⁴ and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, ^(AT)every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. ¹⁵ And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, ¹⁶ “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day ^(AU)in rebellion against the Lord? ¹⁷ Have we not had enough of ^(AV)the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, ¹⁸ that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if ^(AW)you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow ^(AX)he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹ But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land ^(AY)where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. ^(AZ)Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. ^20 (BA)Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and ^(BB)wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

²¹ Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, ²² “The Mighty One, ^(BC)God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! ^(BD)He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today ²³ for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself ^(BE)take vengeance. ²⁴ No, but we did it from fear that ^(BF)in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. ²⁶ Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, ²⁷ but to be ^(BG)a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we ^(BH)do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ ²⁸ And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be ^(BI)a witness between us and you.”’ ²⁹ Far be it from us that we should ^(BJ)rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord ^(BK)by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

³⁰ When ^(BL)Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, ^(BM)it was good in their eyes. ³¹ And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^(BN)the Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

³² Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad ^(BO)in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. ³³ And the report ^(BP)was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel ^(BQ)blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. ³⁴ The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, ^(BR)“it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. ^(B)A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

Jesus at the Feast of Booths

7 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because ^(A)the Jews^[a] were seeking to kill him. ² Now ^(B)the Jews' Feast of ^(C)Booths was at hand. ^3 (D)So his brothers^[b] said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. ⁴ For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, ^(E)show yourself to the world.” ^5 (F)For not even ^(G)his brothers believed in him. ⁶ Jesus said to them, ^(H)“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but ^(I)it hates me because I testify about it that ^(J)its works are evil. ⁸ You go up to the feast. I am not^[c] going up to this feast, for ^(K)my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰ But after ^(L)his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. ^11 (M)The Jews ^(N)were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was much ^(O)muttering about him among the people. ^(P)While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, ^(Q)he is leading the people astray.” ¹³ Yet ^(R)for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

¹⁴ About the middle of the feast Jesus went up ^(S)into the temple and began teaching. ¹⁵ The Jews therefore ^(T)marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,^[d] when he has never studied?” ¹⁶ So Jesus answered them, ^(U)“My teaching is not mine, but his ^(V)who sent me. ^17 (W)If anyone's will is to do God's^[e] will, ^(X)he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I ^(Y)am speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own authority ^(Z)seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. ^19 (AA)Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. ^(AB)Why do you seek to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, ^(AC)“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did ^(AD)one work, and you all marvel at it. ^22 (AE)Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^(AF)from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, ^(AG)are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? ^24 (AH)Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Can This Be the Christ?

²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom ^(AI)they seek to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, ^(AJ)speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that ^(AK)the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷ But ^(AL)we know ^(AM)where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, ^(AN)no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ So Jesus proclaimed, ^(AO)as he taught in the temple, ^(AP)“You know me, and you know where I come from. But ^(AQ)I have not come of my own accord. ^(AR)He who sent me is true, ^(AS)and him you do not know. ^29 (AT)I know him, for I come ^(AU)from him, and ^(AV)he sent me.” ^30 (AW)So they were seeking to arrest him, but ^(AX)no one laid a hand on him, ^(AY)because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet ^(AZ)many of the people believed in him. They said, ^(BA)“When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd ^(BB)muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent ^(BC)officers to arrest him. ³³ Jesus then said, ^(BD)“I will be with you a little longer, and then ^(BE)I am going to him who sent me. ^34 (BF)You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? ^(BG)Does he intend to go to ^(BH)the Dispersion among ^(BI)the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean by saying, ^(BJ)‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

Rivers of Living Water

^37 (BK)On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^(BL)“If anyone thirsts, let him ^(BM)come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, ^(BN)as^[f] the Scripture has said, ^(BO)‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^(BP)living water.’” ³⁹ Now ^(BQ)this he said about the Spirit, ^(BR)whom those who believed in him were to receive, ^(BS)for as yet the Spirit had not been ^(BT)given, ^(BU)because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, ^(BV)some of the people said, “This really is ^(BW)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(BX)the Christ.” But some said, ^(BY)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ^(BZ)from the offspring of David, and comes ^(CA)from Bethlehem, the village ^(CB)where David was?” ⁴³ So there was ^(CC)a division among the people over him. ^44 (CD)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

^45 (CE)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(CF)“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, ^(CG)“Have you also been deceived? ^48 (CH)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50 (CI)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51 (CJ)“Does our law judge a man without first ^(CK)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, ^(CL)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^(CM)no prophet arises from Galilee.”

[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]^[g]

The Woman Caught in Adultery

⁵³ [[They went each to his own house,