10 Now after this the Lord chose and appointed seventy others and sent them out ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to come (visit).

² And He said to them, The harvest indeed is abundant [^[a]there is much ripe grain], but the farmhands are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

³ Go your way; behold, I send you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.

⁴ Carry no purse, no provisions bag, no [change of] sandals; refrain from [retarding your journey by] saluting and wishing anyone well along the way.

⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this household! [^[b]Freedom from all the distresses that result from sin be with this family].

⁶ And if anyone [worthy] of peace and blessedness is there, the peace and blessedness you wish shall come upon him; but if not, it shall come back to you.

⁷ And stay on in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.^(A)

⁸ Whenever you go into a town and they receive and accept and welcome you, eat what is set before you;

⁹ And heal the sick in it and say to them, The kingdom of God has come close to you.

¹⁰ But whenever you go into a town and they do not receive and accept and welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

¹¹ Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we are wiping off against you; yet know and understand this: the kingdom of God has come near you.

¹² I tell you, it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that town.^(B)

¹³ Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty miracles performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴ However, it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted unto heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades (the regions of the dead).

¹⁶ He who hears and heeds you [disciples] hears and heeds Me; and he who slights and rejects you slights and rejects Me; and he who slights and rejects Me slights and rejects Him who sent Me.

¹⁷ The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!

¹⁸ And He said to them, I saw Satan falling like a lightning [flash] from heaven.

¹⁹ Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.

²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are enrolled in heaven.^(C)

²¹ In that same hour He rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have concealed these things [relating to salvation] from the wise and understanding and learned, and revealed them to babes (the childish, unskilled, and untaught). Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious ^[c]will and choice and good pleasure.

²² All things have been given over into My power by My Father; and no one knows Who the Son is except the Father, or Who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son may choose to reveal and make Him known.

²³ Then turning to His disciples, He said privately, Blessed (happy, ^[d]to be envied) are those whose eyes see what you see!

²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings longed to see what you see and they did not see it, and to hear what you hear and they did not hear it.

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20 The Lord said also to Joshua,

² Say to the Israelites, Appoint among you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

³ That the slayer who kills anyone accidentally and unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.^(A)

⁴ He who flees to one of those cities shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city; they shall receive him to [the protection of] that city and give him a place to dwell among them.

⁵ If the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally, having had no hatred for him previously.

⁶ And he shall dwell in that city until he has been tried before the congregation and until the death of him who is the high priest in those days. Then the slayer shall return to his own city from which he fled and to his own house.

⁷ And they set apart and consecrated Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

⁸ Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho they appointed Bezer in the wilderness tableland from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

⁹ These cities were for all the Israelites and the stranger sojourning among them, that whoever killed a person unintentionally might flee there and not be slain by the avenger of blood until he had been tried before the congregation.

21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Israelite tribes.

² They said to them at Shiloh in Canaan, The Lord commanded through Moses that we should be given cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands (suburbs) for our cattle.

³ So the Israelites gave to the Levites out of their own inheritance, at the command of the Lord, these cities and their suburbs.

⁴ The [first] lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those ^[a]Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin thirteen cities.

⁵ And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh ten cities.

⁶ The Gershonites received by lot from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan thirteen cities.

⁷ The Merarites received according to their families from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun twelve cities.

⁸ The Israelites gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasturelands (suburbs), as the Lord commanded through Moses.

⁹ They gave from the tribes of Judah and Simeon the cities here mentioned by name,

¹⁰ Which went to the families of the descendants of Aaron, of the Kohathite branch of the Levites, for the lot fell to them first.

¹¹ They gave them [the city of] Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its pasturelands round about it.

¹² But the city’s fields and villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his own.

¹³ Thus to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands (suburbs), and together with their suburbs, Libnah,

¹⁴ Jattir, Eshtemoa,

¹⁵ Holon, Debir,

¹⁶ Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh; nine cities, each with its suburbs, out of those two tribes.

¹⁷ Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon, Geba,

¹⁸ Anathoth, and Almon; four cities, each with its suburbs.

¹⁹ The cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen, with their suburbs.

²⁰ The rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Levitical families were allotted cities out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹ To them were given, each with its pasturelands (suburbs), Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, as the city of refuge for the slayer, and Gezer,

²² And Kibzaim, and Beth-horon; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).

²³ And out of the tribe of Dan, each with its pasturelands (suburbs), Eltekeh, Gibbethon,

²⁴ Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).

²⁵ And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach, and [another] Gath-rimmon; two cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).

²⁶ All the cities for the families of the remaining Kohathites were ten, with their pasturelands (suburbs).

²⁷ And to the Gershonites of the families of the Levites they gave out of the other half-tribe of Manasseh the city of Golan in Bashan, as the city of refuge for the slayer, and Be-eshterah; two cities, each with its pasturelands.

²⁸ Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion, Daberath,

²⁹ Jarmuth, and En-gannim; four cities, each with its suburbs.

³⁰ Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal, Abdon,

³¹ Helkath, and Rehob; four cities, each with its pasturelands.

³² And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee, city of refuge for the slayer, and Hammoth-dor, and Kartan; three cities, each with its suburbs.

³³ All the cities of the Gershonite families were thirteen, with their pasturelands (suburbs).

³⁴ And to the families of the Merarites, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun were given Jokneam, Kartah,

³⁵ Dimnah, and Nahalal; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).

³⁶ And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer, Jahaz,

³⁷ Kedemoth, and Mephaath; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).

³⁸ And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, as the city of refuge for the slayer, and Mahanaim,

³⁹ Heshbon, and Jazer; four cities in all, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).

⁴⁰ So all the cities allotted to the Merarite families, that is, the remainder of the Levite families, were twelve cities.

⁴¹ The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the Israelites were forty-eight cities in all, with their pasturelands (suburbs).

⁴² These cities all had their pasturelands (suburbs) around them.

⁴³ And the Lord gave to Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt in it.

⁴⁴ The Lord gave them rest round about, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies withstood them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands.

⁴⁵ There failed no part of any good thing which the Lord had promised to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

22 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

² And said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.

³ You have not deserted your brethren [the other tribes] these many days to this day but have carefully kept the charge of the Lord your God.

⁴ But now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; so now go, return to your homes in the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the [east] side of the Jordan.

⁵ But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you: to love the Lord your God and to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and to cling to and unite with Him and to serve Him with all your heart and soul [your very life].

⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes.

⁷ Now to one-half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave a possession on the west side of the Jordan among their brethren. So when Joshua sent them away to their homes, he blessed them,

⁸ And he said to them, Return with much riches to your tents and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

⁹ So the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the [other] Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had been given possession by the command of the Lord through Moses.

¹⁰ And when they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar great to behold.

¹¹ And the [other] Israelites heard it said, Behold, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the edge of the land of Canaan in the region [west] of the Jordan in the passage [belonging to us], the Israelites.

¹² When the Israelites heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war on them.

¹³ And the [other] Israelites sent to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest,

¹⁴ And with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel; and each one was a head of a father’s house among the clans of Israel.

¹⁵ And they came to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,

¹⁶ The whole congregation of the Lord says, What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built yourselves an altar to rebel this day against the Lord?

¹⁷ Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed even now, although there came a plague [in which 24,000 died] in the congregation of the Lord,^(B)

¹⁸ That you must turn away this day from following the Lord? The result will be, since you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁹ But now, if your land is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle resides, and take for yourselves a possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord or rebel against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.

²⁰ Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a trespass in the matter of taking accursed things [devoted to destruction] and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone in his perversity and iniquity.^(C)

²¹ Then the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said to the heads of the clans of Israel,

²² The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in transgression against the Lord, spare us not today.

²³ If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if we did so to offer on it burnt offerings or cereal offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord Himself take vengeance.

²⁴ No! But we did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no part in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord.

²⁶ So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,

²⁷ But to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, You have no portion in the Lord.

²⁸ So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you.

²⁹ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, for cereal offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle.

³⁰ And when Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation and heads of the clans of Israel who were with him heard the words that the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites spoke, it pleased them.

³¹ Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites, Today we know the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this trespass and treachery against the Lord; now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.

³² Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the [other] Israelites, and brought back word to them.

³³ The report pleased the Israelites and they blessed God; and they spoke no more of going to war against them to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites dwelt.

³⁴ The Reubenites and Gadites called the altar Ed [witness], saying, It shall be: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.