The Towns for the Levites

35 ^(A) While the people of Israel were still camped in the lowlands of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho, the Lord told Moses ² to say to them:

When you receive your tribal lands, you must give towns and pastures to the Levi tribe. ³ That way, the Levites will have towns to live in and pastures for their animals. ^4-5 The pasture around each of these towns must be in the shape of a square, with the town itself in the center. The pasture is to measure 900 meters on each side, with 450 meters of land outside each of the town walls. This will be the Levites' pastureland.

⁶ Six of the towns you give them will be Safe Towns where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. But you will also give the Levites 42 other towns, ⁷ so they will have a total of 48 towns with their surrounding pastures.

⁸ Since the towns for the Levites must come from Israel's own tribal lands, the larger tribes will give more towns than the smaller ones.

The Safe Towns

(Deuteronomy 19.1-13; Joshua 20.1-9)

^9 (B) The Lord then told Moses ¹⁰ to tell the people of Israel:

After you have crossed the Jordan River and are settled in Canaan, ¹¹ choose Safe Towns, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. ¹² If the victim's relatives think it was murder, they might try to take revenge.^[a] Anyone accused of murder can run to one of these Safe Towns for protection and not be killed before a trial is held.

¹³ There are to be six of these Safe Towns, ¹⁴ three on each side of the Jordan River. ¹⁵ They will be places of protection for anyone who lives in Israel and accidentally kills someone.

Laws about Murder and Accidental Killing

The Lord said:

^16-18 Suppose you hit someone with a piece of iron or a large stone or a dangerous wooden tool. If that person dies, then you are a murderer and must be put to death ¹⁹ by one of the victim's relatives. He will take revenge^[b]for his relative's death as soon as he finds you.

^20-21 Or suppose you get angry and kill someone by pushing or hitting or by throwing something. You are a murderer and must be put to death by one of the victim's relatives.

^22-24 But if you are not angry and accidentally kill someone in any of these ways, the townspeople must hold a trial and decide if you are guilty. ²⁵ If they decide that you are innocent, you will be protected from the victim's relative and sent to stay in one of the Safe Towns until the high priest dies. ²⁶ But if you ever leave the Safe Town ²⁷ and are killed by the victim's relative, he cannot be punished for killing you. ²⁸ You must stay inside the town until the high priest dies; only then can you go back home.

²⁹ The community of Israel must always obey these laws.

^30 (C) Death is the penalty for murder. But no one accused of murder can be put to death unless there are at least two witnesses to the crime. ³¹ You cannot give someone money to escape the death penalty; you must pay with your own life! ³² And if you have been proven innocent of murder and are living in a Safe Town, you cannot pay to go back home; you must stay there until the high priest dies.

^33-34 I, the Lord, live among you people of Israel, so your land must be kept pure. But when a murder takes place, blood pollutes the land, and it becomes unclean. If that happens, the murderer must be put to death, so the land will be clean again. Keep murder out of Israel!

The Laws about Married Women and Land

36 One day the family leaders from the Gilead clan of the Manasseh tribe went to Moses and the other family leaders of Israel ^2 (D) and said, “Sir, the Lord has said that he will show^[c] what land each tribe will receive as their own. And the Lord has commanded you to give the daughters of our relative Zelophehad^[d] the land that he would have received. ³ But if they marry men from other tribes of Israel, the land they receive will become part of that tribe's inheritance and will no longer belong to us. ⁴ Even when land is returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration,^[e] we will not get back Zelophehad's land—it will belong to the tribe into which his daughters married.”

⁵ So Moses told the people that the Lord had said:

These men from the Manasseh tribe are right. ⁶ I will allow Zelophehad's daughters to marry anyone, as long as those men belong to one of the clans of the Manasseh tribe.

⁷ Tribal land must not be given to another tribe—it will remain the property of the tribe that received it. ^8-9 In the future, any daughter who inherits land must marry someone from her own tribe. Israel's tribal land is never to be passed from one tribe to another.

^10-11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah the daughters of Zelophehad obeyed the Lord and married their uncles' sons ¹² and remained part of the Manasseh tribe. So their land stayed in their father's clan.

¹³ These are the laws that the Lord gave to Moses and the Israelites while they were camped in the lowlands of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

Teaching about Divorce

(Matthew 19.1-12; Luke 16.18)

10 After Jesus left, he went to Judea and then on to the other side of the Jordan River. Once again large crowds came to him, and as usual, he taught them.

² Some Pharisees wanted to test Jesus. So they came up to him and asked if it was right for a man to divorce his wife. ³ Jesus asked them, “What does the Law of Moses say about this?”

^4 (A) They answered, “Moses allows a man to write out divorce papers and send his wife away.”

⁵ Jesus replied, “Moses gave you this law because you are so heartless. ^6 (B) But in the beginning God made a man and a woman. ^7 (C) That's why a man leaves his father and mother and gets married. ⁸ He becomes like one person with his wife. Then they are no longer two people, but one. ⁹ And no one should separate a couple that God has joined together.”

¹⁰ When Jesus and his disciples were back in the house, they asked him about what he had said. ^11 (D) He told them, “A man who divorces his wife and marries someone else is unfaithful to his wife. ¹² A woman who divorces her husband^[a] and marries again is also unfaithful.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children

(Matthew 19.13-15; Luke 18.15-17)

¹³ Some people brought their children to Jesus so he could bless them by placing his hands on them. But his disciples told the people to stop bothering him.

¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he became angry and said, “Let the children come to me! Don't try to stop them. People who are like these little children belong to the kingdom of God.^{[b] 15 (E)} I promise you that you cannot get into God's kingdom, unless you accept it the way a child does.” ¹⁶ Then Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them by placing his hands on them.

A Rich Man

(Matthew 19.16-30; Luke 18.18-30)

¹⁷ As Jesus was walking down a road, a man ran up to him. He knelt down, and asked, “Good teacher, what can I do to have eternal life?”

¹⁸ Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. ^19 (F) You know the commandments. ‘Do not murder. Be faithful in marriage. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Do not cheat. Respect your father and mother.’ ”

²⁰ The man answered, “Teacher, I have obeyed all these commandments since I was a young man.”

²¹ Jesus looked closely at the man. He liked him and said, “There's one thing you still need to do. Go sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come with me.”

²² When the man heard Jesus say this, he went away gloomy and sad because he was very rich.

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “It's hard for rich people to get into God's kingdom!” ²⁴ The disciples were shocked to hear this. So Jesus told them again, “It's terribly hard^[c] to get into God's kingdom! ²⁵ In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God's kingdom.”

²⁶ Jesus' disciples were even more amazed. They asked each other, “How can anyone ever be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”

²⁸ Peter replied, “Remember, we left everything to be your followers!”

²⁹ Jesus told him:

You can be sure that anyone who gives up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land for me and for the good news ³⁰ will be rewarded. In this world they will be given 100 times as many houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and pieces of land, though they will also be mistreated. And in the world to come, they will have eternal life. ^31 (G) But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.