Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations, whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as a possession, ^[c]so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “^(C)Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he ^[d]kills his friend ^[e]unintentionally, ^[f]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[g]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[h]handle and ^[i]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 the manslayer ^[j]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ^[k]take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “If the Lord your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ^[l]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[m]carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, ^(E)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(F)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 gives you as an inheritance, and ^(G)bloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(H)if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[n]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 [o](I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

¹⁴ “^(K)You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to ^[p]possess.

¹⁵ “^(L)A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin ^[q]which he has committed; on the ^[r]evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. ^16 (M)If a malicious witness rises up against a man to ^[s]accuse him of ^[t]wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ^(N)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸ The judges ^(O)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has ^[u]accused his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then ^(P)you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. ^20 (Q)The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹ Thus ^[v](R)you shall not show pity: ^(S)life for life, ^(T)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord.

Cornelius’s Vision

10 Now there was a man at ^(A)Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was ^(B)called the Italian ^[a]cohort, ² a devout man and ^(C)one who feared God with all his household, and ^(D)gave many ^[b]alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. ³ About ^(E)the ^[c]ninth hour of the day he clearly saw ^(F)in a vision ^(G)an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” ⁴ And ^(H)fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and ^[d]alms ^(I)have ascended ^(J)as a memorial before God. ⁵ Now dispatch some men to ^(K)Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; ⁶ he is staying with a tanner named ^(L)Simon, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his ^[e]servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, ⁸ and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to ^(M)Joppa.

⁹ On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, ^(N)Peter went up on ^(O)the housetop about ^(P)the ^[f]sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he ^(Q)fell into a trance; ¹¹ and he *saw ^(R)the ^[g]sky opened up, and an ^[h]object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, ¹² and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and ^[i]crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the ^[j]air. ¹³ A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, ^[k]kill and eat!” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, ^(S)Lord, for ^(T)I have never eaten anything ^[l]unholy and unclean.” ¹⁵ Again a voice came to him a second time, “^(U)What God has cleansed, no longer consider ^[m]unholy.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the ^[n]object was taken up into the ^[o]sky.

¹⁷ Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in ^[p]mind as to what ^(V)the vision which he had seen might be, behold, ^(W)the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate; ¹⁸ and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. ¹⁹ While Peter was reflecting on ^(X)the vision, ^(Y)the Spirit said to him, “Behold, ^[q]three men are looking for you. ²⁰ But get up, go downstairs and ^(Z)accompany them ^[r]without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.” ²¹ Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?” ²² They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and ^(AA)God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, ^(AB)was divinely directed by a ^(AC)holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear ^[s](AD)a message from you.” ²³ So he invited them in and gave them lodging.

Peter at Caesarea

And on the next day he got up and went away with them, and ^(AE)some of ^(AF)the brethren from ^(AG)Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴ On the following day he entered ^(AH)Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and ^[t](AI)worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter raised him up, saying, “^(AJ)Stand up; I too am just a man.” ²⁷ As he talked with him, he entered and *found ^(AK)many people assembled. ²⁸ And he said to them, “You yourselves know how ^(AL)unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet ^(AM)God has shown me that I should not call any man ^[u]unholy or unclean. ²⁹ That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”

³⁰ Cornelius said, “^(AN)Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during ^(AO)the ^[v]ninth hour; and behold, ^(AP)a man stood before me in shining garments, ³¹ and he *said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your ^[w]alms have been remembered before God. ³² Therefore send to ^(AQ)Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’ ³³ So I sent for you immediately, and you have ^[x]been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Gentiles Hear Good News

^34 (AR)Opening his mouth, Peter said:

“I most certainly understand now that ^(AS)God is not one to show partiality, ³⁵ but ^(AT)in every nation the man who ^[y](AU)fears Him and ^[z]does what is right is welcome to Him. ³⁶ The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, ^(AV)preaching ^[aa](AW)peace through Jesus Christ (He is ^(AX)Lord of all)— ³⁷ you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. ^38 [ab]You know of ^(AY)Jesus of Nazareth, how God ^(AZ)anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, ^[ac](BA)and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for ^(BB)God was with Him. ³⁹ We are ^(BC)witnesses of all the things He did both in the ^[ad]land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also ^(BD)put Him to death by hanging Him on a ^[ae]cross. ^40 (BE)God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, ^41 (BF)not to all the people, but to ^(BG)witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us ^(BH)who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. ⁴² And He ^(BI)ordered us to ^[af]preach to the people, and solemnly to ^(BJ)testify that this is the One who has been ^(BK)appointed by God as ^(BL)Judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ Of Him ^(BM)all the prophets bear witness that through ^(BN)His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, ^(BO)the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the ^[ag]message. ^45 (BP)All the ^[ah]circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been ^(BQ)poured out on the Gentiles also. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them ^(BR)speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, ⁴⁷ “^(BS)Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who ^(BT)have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” ⁴⁸ And he ^(BU)ordered them to be baptized ^(BV)in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.