⁴⁰ Now ^(A)the king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴¹ So they departed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴² They departed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³ They departed from Punon and ^(B)camped at Oboth. ^44 (C)They departed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, at the border of Moab. ⁴⁵ They departed from ^[a]Ijim and camped ^(D)at Dibon Gad. ⁴⁶ They moved from Dibon Gad and camped at ^(E)Almon Diblathaim. ⁴⁷ They moved from Almon Diblathaim ^(F)and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸ They departed from the mountains of Abarim and ^(G)camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ⁴⁹ They camped by the Jordan, from Beth Jesimoth as far as the ^(H)Abel Acacia Grove^[b] in the plains of Moab.

Instructions for the Conquest of Canaan

⁵⁰ Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, ⁵¹ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(I)‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^52 (J)then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their ^[c]high places; ⁵³ you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to ^(K)possess. ⁵⁴ And ^(L)you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. ⁵⁵ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be ^(M)irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. ⁵⁶ Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan

34 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into ^(N)the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. ^3 (O)Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of ^(P)the Salt Sea; ⁴ your border shall turn from the southern side of ^(Q)the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of ^(R)Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to ^(S)Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; ⁵ the border shall turn from Azmon ^(T)to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.

⁶ ‘As for the ^(U)western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.

⁷ ‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to ^(V)Mount Hor; ⁸ from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border ^(W)to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward ^(X)Zedad; ⁹ the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at ^(Y)Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰ ‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; ¹¹ the border shall go down from Shepham ^(Z)to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern ^[d]side of the Sea ^(AA)of Chinnereth; ¹² the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at ^(AB)the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”

¹³ Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: ^(AC)“This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. ^14 (AD)For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵ The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

The Leaders Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: ^(AE)Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸ And you shall take one ^(AF)leader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. ¹⁹ These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ²⁰ from the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud; ²¹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; ²² a leader from the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; ²³ from the sons of Joseph: a leader from the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod, ²⁴ and a leader from the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; ²⁵ a leader from the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; ²⁶ a leader from the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan; ²⁷ a leader from the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; ²⁸ and a leader from the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹ These are the ones the Lord commanded to ^[e]divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35 And the Lord spoke to Moses in ^(AG)the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying: ^2 (AH)“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites ^(AI)common-land around the cities. ³ They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. ⁴ The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵ And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

⁶ “Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint ^(AJ)six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. ⁷ So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be ^(AK)forty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. ⁸ And the cities which you will give shall be ^(AL)from the possession of the children of Israel; ^(AM)from the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”

Cities of Refuge^(AN)

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(AO)‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ then ^(AP)you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. ^12 (AQ)They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. ¹³ And of the cities which you give, you shall have ^(AR)six cities of refuge. ^14 (AS)You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, ^(AT)for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

^16 (AU)‘But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷ And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ^19 (AV)The^[f] avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ^20 (AW)If he pushes him out of hatred or, ^(AX)while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, ²¹ or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²² ‘However, if he pushes him suddenly ^(AY)without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, ²³ or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, ²⁴ then ^(AZ)the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. ²⁵ So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and ^(BA)he shall remain there until the death of the high priest ^(BB)who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of ^[g]blood, ²⁸ because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

²⁹ ‘And these things shall be ^(BC)a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰ Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the ^(BD)testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. ³¹ Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³² And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. ³³ So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood ^(BE)defiles the land, and no ^[h]atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except ^(BF)by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ Therefore ^(BG)do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for ^(BH)I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”

Jesus Cleanses a Leper^(A)

^12 (B)And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of ^(C)leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and ^[a]implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³ Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ^(D)Immediately the leprosy left him. ^14 (E)And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, ^(F)just as Moses commanded.”

¹⁵ However, ^(G)the report went around concerning Him all the more; and ^(H)great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. ^16 (I)So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and ^(J)prayed.

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic^(K)

¹⁷ Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present ^[b]to heal them. ^18 (L)Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. ¹⁹ And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst ^(M)before Jesus.

²⁰ When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

^21 (N)And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? ^(O)Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²² But when Jesus ^(P)perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, ^(Q)“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

²⁵ Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, ^(R)glorifying God. ²⁶ And they were all amazed, and they ^(S)glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

Matthew the Tax Collector^(T)

^27 (U)After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ^(V)“Follow Me.” ²⁸ So he left all, rose up, and ^(W)followed Him.

Praise to God for His Salvation and Providence

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.