Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,^{(A) 2} your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. ³ Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke^{(B) 4} and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings^(C) in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.^{(D) 6} Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands^(E) over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. ⁸ Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,^{(F) 9} and you will have purged^(G) from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Marrying a Captive Woman

¹⁰ When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands^(H) and you take captives,^{(I) 11} if you notice among the captives a beautiful^(J) woman and are attracted to her,^(K) you may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your home and have her shave her head,^(L) trim her nails ¹³ and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month,^(M) then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.^(N)

The Right of the Firstborn

¹⁵ If a man has two wives,^(O) and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,^{(P) 16} when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.^{(Q) 17} He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double^(R) share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.^(S) The right of the firstborn belongs to him.^(T)

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious^(U) son^(V) who does not obey his father and mother^(W) and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.^(X) You must purge the evil^(Y) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.^(Z)

Various Laws

²² If someone guilty of a capital offense^(AA) is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, ²³ you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.^(AB) Be sure to bury^(AC) it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.^(AD) You must not desecrate^(AE) the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.^{(AF) 2} If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

⁴ If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey^(AG) or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.^(AH)

⁵ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

⁶ If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.^{(AI) 7} You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,^(AJ) so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.^(AK)

⁸ When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.^(AL)

⁹ Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard;^(AM) if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.^[a]

¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.^(AN)

¹¹ Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.^(AO)

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.^(AP)

Marriage Violations

¹³ If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her^(AQ), dislikes her ¹⁴ and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” ¹⁵ then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate^(AR) proof that she was a virgin. ¹⁶ Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. ¹⁷ Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, ¹⁸ and the elders^(AS) shall take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They shall fine him a hundred shekels^[b] of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ If, however, the charge is true^(AT) and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, ²¹ she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing^(AU) in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

²² If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept^(AV) with her and the woman must die.^(AW) You must purge the evil from Israel.

²³ If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, ²⁴ you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.^(AX)

²⁵ But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, ²⁷ for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed,^(AY) there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered,^{(AZ) 29} he shall pay her father fifty shekels^[c] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰ A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.^[d](BA)

Pleasures Are Meaningless

2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure^(A) to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. ² “Laughter,”^(B) I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” ³ I tried cheering myself with wine,^(C) and embracing folly^(D)—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself^(E) and planted vineyards.^{(F) 5} I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves^(G) who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold^(H) for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces.^(I) I acquired male and female singers,^(J) and a harem^[a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem^(K) before me.^(L) In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹⁵ Then I said to myself,

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷ So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(X)

The Widow’s Offering^(A)

21 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.^{(B) 2} He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ³ “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”^(C)

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times^(D)(E)

⁵ Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, ⁶ “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another;^(F) every one of them will be thrown down.”

⁷ “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

⁸ He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.^{(G) 9} When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

¹⁰ Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.^{(H) 11} There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.^(I)

¹² “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. ¹³ And so you will bear testimony to me.^{(J) 14} But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.^{(K) 15} For I will give you^(L) words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends,^(M) and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷ Everyone will hate you because of me.^{(N) 18} But not a hair of your head will perish.^{(O) 19} Stand firm, and you will win life.^(P)

²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies,^(Q) you will know that its desolation is near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.^{(R) 22} For this is the time of punishment^(S) in fulfillment^(T) of all that has been written. ²³ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. ²⁴ They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled^(U) on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

²⁵ “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.^{(V) 26} People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.^{(W) 27} At that time they will see the Son of Man^(X) coming in a cloud^(Y) with power and great glory. ²⁸ When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”^(Z)

²⁹ He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰ When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God^(AA) is near.

³² “Truly I tell you, this generation^(AB) will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.^(AC)

³⁴ “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life,^(AD) and that day will close on you suddenly^(AE) like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray^(AF) that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁷ Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple,^(AG) and each evening he went out^(AH) to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives,^{(AI) 38} and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.^(AJ)