Cities of Refuge^(A)

19 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,^{(B) 2} then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

⁴ This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. ⁵ For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood^(C) might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. ⁷ This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

⁸ If the Lord your God enlarges your territory,^(D) as he promised^(E) on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, ⁹ because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him^(F)—then you are to set aside three more cities. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood^(G) will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.^(H)

¹¹ But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor,^(I) and then flees to one of these cities, ¹² the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. ¹³ Show no pity.^(J) You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood,^(K) so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴ Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.^(L)

Witnesses

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^(M)

¹⁶ If a malicious witness^(N) takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, ¹⁷ the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges^(O) who are in office at the time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation,^(P) and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.^(Q) You must purge the evil from among you. ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid,^(R) and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. ²¹ Show no pity:^(S) life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.^(T)

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,^(U) do not be afraid^(V) of them,^(W) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with^(X) you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. ³ He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted^(Y) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you^(Z) to fight^(AA) for you against your enemies to give you victory.^(AB)”

⁵ The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in^(AC) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. ⁶ Has anyone planted^(AD) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?^(AE) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. ⁷ Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.^(AF)” ⁸ Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”^{(AG) 9} When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

¹⁰ When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.^{(AH) 11} If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject^(AI) to forced labor^(AJ) and shall work for you. ¹² If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. ¹³ When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.^{(AK) 14} As for the women, the children, the livestock^(AL) and everything else in the city,^(AM) you may take these as plunder^(AN) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. ¹⁵ This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance^(AO) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.^{(AP) 17} Completely destroy^[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,^(AQ) and you will sin^(AR) against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?^{[b] 20} However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees^(AS) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

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,^{(AT) 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^{(AU) 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^(AV) in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.^{(AW) 6} Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands^(AX) 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,^{(AY) 9} and you will have purged^(AZ) 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^(BA) and you take captives,^{(BB) 11} if you notice among the captives a beautiful^(BC) woman and are attracted to her,^(BD) you may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your home and have her shave her head,^(BE) 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,^(BF) 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.^(BG)

The Right of the Firstborn

¹⁵ If a man has two wives,^(BH) 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,^{(BI) 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.^{(BJ) 17} He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double^(BK) share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.^(BL) The right of the firstborn belongs to him.^(BM)

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious^(BN) son^(BO) who does not obey his father and mother^(BP) 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.^(BQ) You must purge the evil^(BR) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.^(BS)

Various Laws

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

Psalm 97

Paul’s Trial Before Festus

25 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus^(A) went up from Caesarea^(B) to Jerusalem, ² where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul.^{(C) 3} They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.^{(D) 4} Festus answered, “Paul is being held^(E) at Caesarea,^(F) and I myself am going there soon. ⁵ Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

⁶ After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court^(G) and ordered that Paul be brought before him.^{(H) 7} When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him,^(I) but they could not prove them.^(J)

⁸ Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple^(K) or against Caesar.”

⁹ Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor,^(L) said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”^(M)

¹⁰ Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews,^(N) as you yourself know very well. ¹¹ If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”^(O)

¹² After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

Festus Consults King Agrippa

¹³ A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea^(P) to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king. He said: “There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.^{(Q) 15} When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him^(R) and asked that he be condemned.

¹⁶ “I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.^{(S) 17} When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.^{(T) 18} When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. ¹⁹ Instead, they had some points of dispute^(U) with him about their own religion^(V) and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive. ²⁰ I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges.^{(W) 21} But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.”^(X)

²² Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.”

He replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”^(Y)

Paul Before Agrippa^(Z)

²³ The next day Agrippa and Bernice^(AA) came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴ Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community^(AB) has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.^{(AC) 25} I found he had done nothing deserving of death,^(AD) but because he made his appeal to the Emperor^(AE) I decided to send him to Rome. ²⁶ But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. ²⁷ For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”