17 ^(A)“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.

^2 (B)“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(C)in transgressing his covenant, ³ and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or ^(D)the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(E)which I have forbidden, ⁴ and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire ^(F)diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you ^(G)shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. ^6 (H)On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. ^7 (I)The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So ^(J)you shall purge^[a] the evil^[b] from your midst.

Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

⁸ “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to ^(K)the place that the Lord your God will choose. ^9 (L)And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and ^(M)they shall declare to you the decision. ¹⁰ Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. ¹¹ According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. ¹² The man who ^(N)acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest ^(O)who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So ^(P)you shall purge the evil from Israel. ¹³ And all the people ^(Q)shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.

Laws Concerning Israel's Kings

¹⁴ “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ^(R)‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you may indeed set a king over you ^(S)whom the Lord your God will choose. One ^(T)from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶ Only he must not acquire many ^(U)horses for himself or cause the people ^(V)to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ^(W)‘You shall never return that way again.’ ¹⁷ And he ^(X)shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, ^(Y)nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

¹⁸ “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, ^(Z)he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, ^(AA)approved by^[c] the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ And ^(AB)it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, ^(AC)that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, ²⁰ that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he ^(AD)may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, ^(AE)so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Provision for Priests and Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, ^(AF)shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They ^(AG)shall eat the Lord's food offerings^[d] as their^[e] inheritance. ² They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. ³ And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: ^(AH)they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. ^4 (AI)The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵ For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes ^(AJ)to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

⁶ “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, ^(AK)where he lives—and he may come when he desires^[f]—^(AL)to the place that the Lord will choose, ⁷ and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, ^(AM)like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, ⁸ then he may have equal ^(AN)portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.^[g]

Abominable Practices

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(AO)you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone ^(AP)who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,^[h] anyone who ^(AQ)practices divination or ^(AR)tells fortunes or interprets omens, or ^(AS)a sorcerer ¹¹ or a charmer or ^(AT)a medium or a necromancer or ^(AU)one who inquires of the dead, ^12 (AV)for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And ^(AW)because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. ¹³ You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, ¹⁴ for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

A New Prophet like Moses

^15 (AX)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶ just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb ^(AY)on the day of the assembly, when you said, ^(AZ)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷ And the Lord said to me, ^(BA)‘They are right in what they have spoken. ^18 (BB)I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. ^(BC)And I will put my words in his mouth, and ^(BD)he shall speak to them all that I command him. ^19 (BE)And whoever will ^(BF)not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. ^20 (BG)But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or^[i] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (BH)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; ^(BI)the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge

19 “When ^(BJ)the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (BK)you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ You shall measure the distances^[j] and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

⁴ “This is the provision for ^(BL)the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— ⁵ as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, ⁶ lest ^(BM)the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. ⁷ Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. ^8 (BN)And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, ^(BO)as he has sworn to your fathers, and ^(BP)gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—^(BQ)then you shall add three other cities to these three, ¹⁰ lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹ “But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him ^(BR)and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 (BS)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(BT)but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood^[k] from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Property Boundaries

^14 (BU)“You shall not move your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Laws Concerning Witnesses

¹⁵ “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. ^(BV)Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. ¹⁶ If ^(BW)a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, ^(BX)before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. ¹⁸ The judges shall ^(BY)inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, ^19 (BZ)then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil^[l] from your midst. ²⁰ And the rest ^(CA)shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. ^21 (CB)Your eye shall not pity. ^(CC)It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

13 ^(A)And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^(B)There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Signs of the End of the Age

³ And as he sat on ^(C)the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^(D)Peter and James and John and ^(E)Andrew asked him ^(F)privately, ⁴ “Tell us, ^(G)when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” ⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, ^(H)“See that no one leads you astray. ^6 (I)Many will come in my name, saying, ^(J)‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, ^(K)do not be alarmed. This ^(L)must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For ^(M)nation will rise against nation, and ^(N)kingdom against kingdom. There will be ^(O)earthquakes in various places; there will be ^(P)famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

^9 (Q)“But ^(R)be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten ^(S)in synagogues, and you will stand before ^(T)governors and ^(U)kings for my sake, ^(V)to bear witness before them. ¹⁰ And the gospel must first be proclaimed ^(W)to all nations. ¹¹ And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, ^(X)do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say ^(Y)whatever is given you in that hour, ^(Z)for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ^12 (AA)And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. ^13 (AB)And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. ^(AC)But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁴ “But when you see ^(AD)the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (^(AE)let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ^15 (AF)Let the one who is on ^(AG)the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, ¹⁶ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁷ And ^(AH)alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ¹⁸ Pray that it may not happen in winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be ^(AI)such ^(AJ)tribulation as has not been ^(AK)from the beginning of the creation that ^(AL)God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰ And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for ^(AM)the sake of the elect, whom ^(AN)he chose, he shortened the days.