Boundaries of the Promised Land

34 The Lord spoke to Moses, ² “Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance^[a] with these borders:

³ Your southern side will be from the Wilderness of Zin along the boundary of Edom. Your southern border on the east will begin at the east end of the Dead Sea. ⁴ Your border will turn south of the Scorpions’ Ascent,^[b] proceed to Zin, and end south of Kadesh-barnea. It will go to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon.^{(A) 5} The border will turn from Azmon^(B) to the Brook of Egypt,^(C) where it will end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶ Your western border will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea; this will be your western border.

⁷ This will be your northern border: From the Mediterranean Sea draw a line to Mount Hor;^{(D) 8} from Mount Hor draw a line to the entrance of Hamath,^[c](E) and the border will reach Zedad.^{(F) 9} Then the border will go to Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan.^(G) This will be your northern border.

¹⁰ For your eastern border, draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham. ¹¹ The border will go down from Shepham to Riblah east of Ain.^(H) It will continue down and reach the eastern slope of the Sea of Chinnereth.^{[d](I) 12} Then the border will go down to the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. This will be your land defined by its borders on all sides.”

¹³ So Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you are to receive by lot as an inheritance, which the Lord commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴ For the tribe of Reuben’s descendants and the tribe of Gad’s descendants have received their inheritance according to their ancestral families,^[e] and half the tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵ The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance^(J) across the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

Leaders for Distributing the Land

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun. ¹⁸ Take one leader from each tribe to distribute the land. ¹⁹ These are the names of the men:

²⁹ These are the ones the Lord commanded to distribute the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35 The Lord again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:^{(L) 2} “Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities.^{(M) 3} The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals. ⁴ The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards^[f] on every side. ⁵ Measure a thousand yards^[g] outside the city for the east side, a thousand yards for the south side, a thousand yards for the west side, and a thousand yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.

⁶ “The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge,^(N) which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.^{(O) 7} The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands.^{(P) 8} Of the cities that you give from the Israelites’ territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one.^(Q) Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.^{(R) 12} You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger,^(S) so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. ¹³ The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴ Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.^{(T) 15} These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the alien or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶ “If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.^{(U) 17} If anyone has in his hand a stone capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁸ If anyone has in his hand a wooden object capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him.^{(V) 20} Likewise, if anyone in hatred pushes a person or throws an object at him with malicious intent and he dies, ²¹ or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.

²² “But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intent ²³ or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and didn’t intend to harm him, ²⁴ the assembly is to judge between the person who kills someone and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. ²⁵ The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.^(W)

²⁶ “If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to, ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed, ²⁸ for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses. ²⁹ These instructions will be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.

³⁰ “If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness.^{(X) 31} You are not to accept a ransom for the life of someone who is guilty of murder; he must be put to death. ³² Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.

³³ “Do not defile the land where you live, for bloodshed defiles the land,^(Y) and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it. ³⁴ Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I dwell; for I, the Lord, reside among the Israelites.”

The Inheritance of Zelophehad’s Daughters

36 The family heads from the clan of the descendants of Gilead—the son of Machir, son of Manasseh^(Z)—who were from the clans of the sons of Joseph, approached and addressed Moses and the leaders who were heads of the Israelite families. ² They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. My lord was further commanded by the Lord to give our brother Zelophehad’s inheritance to his daughters.^{(AA) 3} If they marry any of the men from the other Israelite tribes, their inheritance will be taken away from our fathers’ inheritance and added to that of the tribe into which they marry. Therefore, part of our allotted inheritance would be taken away. ⁴ When the Jubilee^(AB) comes for the Israelites, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

⁵ So Moses commanded the Israelites at the word of the Lord, “What the tribe of Joseph’s descendants says is right. ⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded concerning Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they like provided they marry within a clan of their ancestral tribe. ⁷ No inheritance belonging to the Israelites is to transfer from tribe to tribe, because each of the Israelites is to retain the inheritance of his ancestral tribe.^{(AC) 8} Any daughter who possesses an inheritance from an Israelite tribe must marry someone from the clan of her ancestral tribe, so that each of the Israelites will possess the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ No inheritance is to transfer from one tribe to another, because each of the Israelite tribes is to retain its inheritance.”

¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married cousins on their father’s side. ¹² They married men from the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan.

¹³ These are the commands and ordinances the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

The Triumphal Entry

11 When^(A) they approached Jerusalem,^(B) at Bethphage and Bethany^(C) near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ² and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’”

⁴ So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, ⁵ and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go.

⁷ They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their clothes on the road,^(D) and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields.^{[a] 9} Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted:

¹¹ He went into Jerusalem^(J) and into the temple.^(K) After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany^(L) with the Twelve.

The Barren Fig Tree Is Cursed

¹² The^(M) next day when they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³ Seeing in the distance a fig^(N) tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit^(O) from you again!”^(P) And his disciples^(Q) heard it.

Cleansing the Temple

¹⁵ They came to Jerusalem,^(R) and he went into the temple^(S) and began to throw out those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers^(T) and the chairs of those selling doves, ¹⁶ and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple. ¹⁷ He was teaching them: “Is it not written,^(U) My house^(V) will be called a house of prayer^(W) for all nations?^[c] But you have made it a den of thieves!”^[d](X)

¹⁸ The chief priests and the scribes^(Y) heard it and started looking for a way to kill him. For they were afraid^(Z) of him, because the whole crowd was astonished by his teaching.

¹⁹ Whenever evening came, they would go out of the city.

The Barren Fig Tree Is Withered

²⁰ Early^(AA) in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹ Then Peter^(AB) remembered and said to him, “Rabbi,^(AC) look! The fig tree that you cursed^(AD) has withered.”

²² Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.^{(AE) 23} Truly I tell you,^(AF) if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt^(AG) in his heart, but believes^(AH) that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.^{(AI) 24} Therefore I tell you, everything you pray^(AJ) and ask for^(AK)—believe that you have received^[e](AL) it and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever you stand^(AM) praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive^(AN) him, so that your Father^(AO) in heaven^(AP) will also forgive^(AQ) you your wrongdoing.”^[f]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

²⁷ They^(AR) came again to Jerusalem.^(AS) As he was walking in the temple,^(AT) the chief priests, the scribes,^(AU) and the elders^(AV) came ²⁸ and asked him, “By what authority^(AW) are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things?”

²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question;^(AX) then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was John’s baptism^(AY) from heaven or of human origin? Answer me.”

³¹ They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe^(AZ) him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘Of human origin’”—they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was truly a prophet.^{(BA) 33} So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”