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Deuteronomy 19

    ²You shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess.

    ³You shall prepare the road and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

    ⁴And this is the case of the slayer who shall flee there in order that he may live. Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, for whom he had no enmity in time past--

    ⁵As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand strikes with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips off the handle and lights on his neighbor and kills him--he may flee to one of those cities and live;

    ⁶Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer while his [mind and] heart are hot with anger and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him even though the slayer was not worthy of death, since he had not been at enmity with him previously.

    ⁷Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three [refuge] cities.

    ⁸And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He has sworn to your fathers to do, and gives you all the land which He promised to your fathers to give,

    ⁹If you keep all these commandments to do them, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three other cities to these three,

    ¹⁰Lest innocent blood be shed in your land, which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and so blood guilt be upon you.

    ¹¹But if any man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and attacks him and wounds him mortally so that he dies, and the assailant flees into one of these cities,

    ¹²Then the elders of his own city shall send for him and fetch him from there and give him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.

    ¹³Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall clear Israel of the guilt of innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

    ¹⁴You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, which the men of old [the first dividers of the land] set.

    ¹⁵One witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or any wrong in connection with any sin he commits; only on the testimony of two or three witnesses shall a charge be established.

    ¹⁶If a false witness rises up against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing,

    ¹⁷Then both parties to the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.

    ¹⁸The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,

    ¹⁹Then you shall do to him as he had intended to do to his brother. So you shall put away the evil from among you.

    ²⁰And those who remain shall hear and [reverently] fear, and shall henceforth commit no such evil among you.

    ²¹Your eyes shall not pity: it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy 20

    ²And when you come near to the battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the men,

    ³And shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, you draw near this day to battle against your enemies. Let not your [minds and] hearts faint; fear not, and do not tremble or be terrified [and in dread] because of them.

    ⁴For the Lord your God is He Who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.^(A)

    ⁵And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.

    ⁶And what man has planted a vineyard and has not used the fruit of it? Let him also return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man use the fruit of it.

    ⁷And what man has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.

    ⁸And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, What man is fearful and fainthearted? Let him return to his house, lest [because of him] his brethren's [minds and] hearts faint as does his own.

    ⁹And when the officers finish speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders at the head of the people.

    ¹⁰When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.

    ¹¹And if that city makes an answer of peace to you and opens to you, then all the people found in it shall be tributary to you and they shall serve you.

    ¹²But if it refuses to make peace with you and fights against you, then you shall besiege it.

    ¹³And when the Lord your God has given it into your hands, you shall smite every male there with the edge of the sword.

    ¹⁴But the women, the little ones, the beasts, and all that is in the city, all the spoil in it, you shall take for yourselves; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you.

    ¹⁵So shall you treat all the cities that are very far off from you, that do not belong to the cities of these nations.

    ¹⁶But in the cities of these people which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes.

    ¹⁷But you shall utterly exterminate them, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded you,

    ¹⁸So that they may not teach you all the abominable practices they have carried on for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the Lord your God.

    ¹⁹When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by using an ax on them, for you can eat their fruit; you must not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?

    ²⁰Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siege works against the city that makes war with you until it falls.

Deuteronomy 21

    ²Then your elders and judges shall come forth and measure the distance to the cities around him who is slain.

    ³And the city which is nearest to the slain man, the elders of that city shall take a heifer which has never been worked, never pulled in the yoke,

    ⁴And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

    ⁵And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name [and presence] of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be settled.

    ⁶And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,

    ⁷And they shall testify, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

    ⁸Forgive, O Lord, Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not allow the shedding of innocent blood to be charged to Your people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be forgiven them.

    ⁹So shall you purge the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

    ¹⁰When you go forth to battle against your enemies and the Lord your God has given them into your hands and you carry them away captive,

    ¹¹And you see among the captives a beautiful woman and desire her, that you may have her as your wife,

    ¹²Then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails [in purification from heathenism]

    ¹³And put off her prisoner's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

    ¹⁴And if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go absolutely free. You shall not sell her at all for money; you shall not deal with her as a slave or a servant, because you have humbled her.

    ¹⁵If a man has two wives, one loved and the other disliked, and they both have borne him children, and if the firstborn son is the son of the one who is disliked,

    ¹⁶Then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he shall not put the firstborn of his loved wife in place of the [actual] firstborn of the disliked wife--her firstborn being older.

    ¹⁷But he shall acknowledge the son of the disliked as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he was the first issue of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

    ¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or his mother and though they chasten him will not listen to them,

    ¹⁹Then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,

    ²⁰And they shall say to the elders of his city, This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.^(B)

    ²¹Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall cleanse out the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and [reverently] fear.

    ²²And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death and [afterward] you hang him on a tree,^(C)

    ²³His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God. Thus you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.^(D)

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²¹And then if anyone says to you, See, here is the Christ (the Messiah)! or, Look, there He is! do not believe it.

    ²²False Christs (Messiahs) and false prophets will arise and show signs and [work] miracles to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (those God has chosen out for Himself).

    ²³But look to yourselves and be on your guard; I have told you everything beforehand.

    ²⁴But in those days, after [the affliction and oppression and distress of] that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;^(A)

    ²⁵And the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.^(B)

    ²⁶And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great (kingly) power and glory (majesty and splendor).^(C)

    ²⁷And then He will send out the angels and will gather together His elect (those He has ^[a]picked out for Himself) from the four winds, from the farthest bounds of the earth to the farthest bounds of heaven.

    ²⁸Now learn a lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and it puts forth its leaves, you recognize and know that summer is near.

    ²⁹So also, when you see these things happening, you may recognize and know that He is near, at [the very] door.

    ³⁰Surely I say to you, this generation (^[b]the whole multitude of people living at that one time) positively will not perish or pass away before all these things take place.

    ³¹Heaven and earth will perish and pass away, but My words will not perish or pass away.

    ³²But of that day or that hour not a [single] person knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

    ³³Be on your guard [constantly alert], and watch ^[c]and pray; for you do not know when the time will come.

    ³⁴It is like a man [^[d]already] going on a journey; when he leaves home, he puts his servants in charge, each with his particular task, and he gives orders to the doorkeeper to be constantly alert and on the watch.

    ³⁵Therefore watch (give strict attention, be cautious and alert), for you do not know when the Master of the house is coming--in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning--

    ³⁶[Watch, I say] lest He come suddenly and unexpectedly and find you asleep.

    ³⁷And what I say to you I say to everybody: Watch (give strict attention, be cautious, active, and alert)!