A Person Found Murdered

21 Someone might be found murdered. He might be lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to own. And no one knows who killed him. ² Your elders and judges should go to where he was found. And they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities. ³ The elders of the city nearest the body are responsible. They must take a young cow that has never worked or worn a yoke. ⁴ And they must lead her down to a valley. It must never have been plowed or planted. It must have a stream flowing through it. There they must break the young cow’s neck. ⁵ The priests should come forward. They are the sons of Levi. They have been chosen by the Lord your God. They are to serve and give blessings in the Lord’s name. And they are to decide cases of quarreling and attacks. ⁶ Then all the elders of the city nearest the murdered man should wash their hands. They should do it over the young cow whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁷ They should declare: “We did not kill this man. And we did not see it happen. ⁸ Lord, remove this sin of your people Israel. You have saved them. Don’t blame your people, the Israelites, for this innocent man’s murder.” And so the murder will be paid for. ⁹ Then you will have removed from yourselves the guilt of murdering an innocent person. You will be doing what the Lord says is right.

Captive Women as Wives

¹⁰ You will go to war against your enemies. The Lord will help you defeat them. You will take them captive. ¹¹ You might see a beautiful woman among the captives. And you might be attracted to her. You may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your home. She must shave her head and cut her nails. ¹³ She must change out of the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. And she must live in your house and cry for her parents for a month. After that, you may marry her. You will be her husband, and she will be your wife. ¹⁴ But you might not be pleased with her. Then let her go anywhere she wants. You must not sell her for money. You must not make her a slave. You have taken away her honor.

The Oldest Son

¹⁵ A man may have two wives. He might love one wife but not the other. Both wives might have sons by him. But the older son might be the son of the wife he does not love. ¹⁶ Someday that man must will his property to his sons. But he must not give the son of the wife he loves what belongs to the older son. The older son is the son of the wife the man does not love. ¹⁷ He must agree to give the older son two shares of everything he owns. The older son is from the wife he does not love. That son was the first to prove his father could have children. So he has the rights that belong to the older son.

Sons Who Refuse to Obey

¹⁸ A man might have a son who is stubborn. The son turns against his father and mother and doesn’t obey them. He will not listen when they correct him. ¹⁹ His parents must take him to the elders at the city gate. ²⁰ They will say to the leaders, “Our son is stubborn and turns against us. He will not obey us. He eats too much. And he is always drunk.” ²¹ Then all the men in his town must throw stones at him until he dies. Get rid of the evil among you. All the people of Israel will hear about this and be afraid.

Other Laws

²² A man might be guilty of a sin worthy of death. He must be put to death and his body displayed on a tree. ²³ But don’t leave his body hanging on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day. Anyone whose body is displayed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not ruin the land the Lord your God is giving you to own.

Luke Writes About Jesus’ Life

1 To Theophilus:

Many have tried to give a history of the things that happened among us. ² They have written the same things that we learned from others—the people who saw those things from the beginning and served God by telling people his message. ³ I myself studied everything carefully from the beginning, your Excellency.^[a] I thought I should write it out for you. So I put it in order in a book. ⁴ I write these things so that you can know that what you have been taught is true.

Zechariah and Elizabeth

⁵ During the time Herod ruled Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah. He belonged to Abijah’s group.^[b] Zechariah’s wife came from the family of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ Zechariah and Elizabeth truly did what God said was good. They did everything the Lord commanded and told people to do. They were without fault in keeping his law. ⁷ But Zechariah and Elizabeth had no children. Elizabeth could not have a baby; and both of them were very old.

⁸ Zechariah was serving as a priest before God for his group. It was his group’s time to serve. ⁹ According to the custom of the priests, he was chosen to go into the Temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ There were a great many people outside praying at the time the incense was offered. ¹¹ Then, on the right side of the incense table, an angel of the Lord came and stood before Zechariah. ¹² When he saw the angel, Zechariah was confused and frightened. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Zechariah, don’t be afraid. Your prayer has been heard by God. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give birth to a son. You will name him John. ¹⁴ You will be very happy. Many people will be happy because of his birth. ¹⁵ John will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer. Even at the time John is born, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ He will help many people of Israel return to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He himself will go first before the Lord. John will be powerful in spirit like Elijah. He will make peace between fathers and their children. He will bring those who are not obeying God back to the right way of thinking. He will make people ready for the coming of the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that what you say is true? I am an old man, and my wife is old, too.”

¹⁹ The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand before God. God sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ Now, listen! You will not be able to talk until the day these things happen. You will lose your speech because you did not believe what I told you. But these things will really happen.”

²¹ Outside, the people were still waiting for Zechariah. They were surprised that he was staying so long in the Temple. ²² Then Zechariah came outside, but he could not speak to them. So they knew that he had seen a vision in the Temple. Zechariah could not speak. He could only make signs to them. ²³ When his time of service as a priest was finished, he went home.

²⁴ Later, Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant. She did not go out of her house for five months. Elizabeth said, ²⁵ “Look what the Lord has done for me! My people were ashamed^[c] of me, but now the Lord has taken away that shame.”

The Virgin Mary

^26-27 During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin who lived in Nazareth, a town in Galilee. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.”

²⁹ But Mary was very confused by what the angel said. Mary wondered, “What does this mean?”

³⁰ The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, because God is pleased with you. ³¹ Listen! You will become pregnant. You will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be great, and people will call him the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of King David, his ancestor. ³³ He will rule over the people of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen? I am a virgin!”

³⁵ The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. The baby will be holy. He will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now listen! Elizabeth, your relative, is very old. But she is also pregnant with a son. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months. ³⁷ God can do everything!”

³⁸ Mary said, “I am the servant girl of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!” Then the angel went away.

Mary’s Visit

³⁹ Mary got up and went quickly to a town in the mountains of Judea. ⁴⁰ She went to Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the unborn baby inside Elizabeth jumped. Then Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² She cried out in a loud voice, “God has blessed you more than any other woman. And God has blessed the baby which you will give birth to. ⁴³ You are the mother of my Lord, and you have come to me! Why has something so good happened to me? ⁴⁴ When I heard your voice, the baby inside me jumped with joy. ⁴⁵ You are blessed because you believed what the Lord said to you would really happen.”

Mary Praises God

⁴⁶ Then Mary said,

⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

The Birth of John

⁵⁷ When it was time for Elizabeth to give birth, she had a boy. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard how good the Lord was to her, and they rejoiced.

⁵⁹ When the baby was eight days old, they came to circumcise him. They wanted to name him Zechariah because this was his father’s name. ⁶⁰ But his mother said, “No! He will be named John.”

⁶¹ The people said to Elizabeth, “But no one in your family has this name!” ⁶² Then they made signs to his father, “What would you like to name him?”

⁶³ Zechariah asked for something to write on. Then he wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was surprised. ⁶⁴ Then Zechariah could talk again. He began to praise God. ⁶⁵ And all their neighbors became alarmed. In all the mountains of Judea people continued talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ The people who heard about these things wondered about them. They thought, “What will this child be?” They said this because the Lord was with him.

Zechariah Praises God

⁶⁷ Then Zechariah, John’s father, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He told the people what would happen:

⁸⁰ And so the child grew up and became strong in spirit. John lived away from other people until the time when he came out to preach to Israel.