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Provision for Priests and Levites
18 The Levitical priests and all the tribe of Levi will not have any portion or inheritance with Israel. They must eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and His portion. 2 They will have no inheritance among their brothers. The Lord is their inheritance, just as He has said to them.
3 This shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be an ox or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You must give him the first fruit of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep also. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.
6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place where the Lord shall choose, 7 then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. 8 They must have the same portions to eat, besides any profits he may receive from the sale of his father’s inheritance.
A Call to Holiness
9 When you enter into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you must not learn to practice the abominations of those nations. 10 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or uses witchcraft, or an interpreter of omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts spells, or a spiritualist, or an occultist, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God will drive them out from before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.
The Prophet
14 For these nations, which you shall possess, listened to soothsayers and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me. You must listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, so that I do not die.”
17 The Lord said to me, “They have done well in what they have said. 18 I will raise up a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and will put My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. 19 It will be that whoever will not listen to My words which he will speak in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods—that prophet shall die.”
21 And you may say in your heart, “How can we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?” 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not occur or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
Cities of Refuge(A)
19 When the Lord your God has cut off the nations, whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses, 2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall prepare a roadway for yourself, and divide the territory of your land into three parts, which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, so that every manslayer may flee there.
4 This is the word concerning the manslayer who will flee there, so that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, whom he did not hate previously, 5 like when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand raises the axe to cut down the tree, and the axe head slips from the handle and lands on his neighbor causing him to die, then he may flee to one of those cities, and live. 6 Otherwise the avenger of blood might, while he is angry, pursue the manslayer and overtake him (because the way is long) and kill him, even though he was not worthy of death (since he did not hate him previously). 7 Therefore, I command you, saying, “You shall set apart three cities for yourselves.”
8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as He promised your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers, 9 and if you will carefully keep all these commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to always walk in His ways, then you must add three cities more for yourself, besides these three. 10 Then innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and blood guiltiness be on you.
11 But if any man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and mortally strikes him, causing him to die, and flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city must send and fetch him from there, and deliver him to the hand of the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13 Your eye must not pity him, but you must remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
14 You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set in your inheritance, which you shall inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
Witnesses
15 A single witness must not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin that he sins. At the testimony of two witnesses or at the testimony of three witnesses shall the matter be established.
16 If a false witness rises up against any man to testify against him to accuse him of doing wrong, 17 then both the men between whom the controversy is must stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, who are in office those days. 18 The judges will thoroughly investigate, and if the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you must do to him as he conspired to have done to his brother. In this way you must remove the evil from among you. 20 Those who remain will hear and fear, and will never again commit any such evil among you. 21 You must not show pity. But life will be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Rules of Warfare
20 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people that outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 It will be, when you approach the battle, that the priest will approach and speak to the people, 3 and he shall say to them, “Hear, O Israel, you approach today to do battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them. 4 For the Lord your God is He that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
5 The officers will speak to the people, saying, “What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. 6 What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. 7 What man is there who is engaged to a woman but has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.” 8 The officers are to speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart faint as well as his heart.” 9 It will be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they must make captains of the armies to lead the people.
10 When you come near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. 11 It shall be, if it gives you a reply of peace and opens to you, then it must be that all the people that are found within shall become slaves to you and they shall serve you. 12 If it will not make peace with you but makes war against you, then you are to besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God has delivered it into your hands, you are to slay every male there with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all that is in the city, all the spoil within, you are to take to yourself, and you will eat the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. 15 Thus you are to do to all the cities which are far away, which are not the cities of these nearby nations.
16 But of the cities of these people, which the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 But you shall completely destroy them: namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they do not teach you to participate in all their abominations, which they have done to their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.
19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, in making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy the trees there by chopping them down with an axe, for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For the tree of the field is not a man in which to lay siege. 20 However, you may destroy and cut down only the trees which you know are not fruit trees, so that you may build siege engines against the city that makes war with you until it falls.
The Transfiguration(A)
28 About eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As He prayed, the appearance of His countenance was altered, and His clothing was white and glistening. 30 And suddenly two men were talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. 32 Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. But waking thoroughly, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33 As they departed from Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three sanctuaries: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not knowing what he said.
34 While he was speaking, a cloud came and overshadowed them. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent and told no one in those days anything they had seen.
The Healing of a Boy With an Unclean Spirit(B)
37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a great crowd met Him. 38 Suddenly a man cried out from the crowd, saying, “Teacher, I beg You, look upon my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth, and bruises him, and scarcely leaves him. 40 I begged Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
41 Jesus said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
42 While he was coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and returned him to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.
Jesus Foretells His Death a Second Time(C)
But while everyone marveled at all the things Jesus did, He said to His disciples, 44 “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this statement, and it was hidden from them, so that they did not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.
Who Is the Greatest?(D)
46 A dispute arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child and put him by Him, 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.”
He Who Is Not Against You Is for You(E)
49 John answered, “Master, we saw a man casting out demons in Your name and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us.”
50 Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against you is for you.”
BOOK THREE
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost stumbled;
my steps had almost slipped.
3 For I was envious at the boastful;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains in their death;
their bodies are fat.
5 They are not in trouble as other people;
nor are they plagued like others.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge with fatness;
they have more than a heart could wish.
8 They mock and speak with evil oppression;
they speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore people turn to them,
and abundant waters are drunk by them.
11 They say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
12 Observe, these are the wicked, always at ease;
they increase in riches.
13 Surely I have kept my heart pure for nothing,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I am plagued,
and chastened every morning.
15 If I said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
16 When I thought to understand this,
it was troublesome in my eyes,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their end.
18 Surely You have set them in slippery places;
You have brought them down to ruin.
19 How they come to desolation, as in a moment!
They have come to an end, utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so, O Lord, when You awake,
You will despise their form.
21 Thus my heart was embittered,
and I was pierced in my feelings.
22 I was a brute and did not understand;
I was as a beast before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have held me by my right hand.
24 You will guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fails,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For those who are far from You will perish;
You destroy everyone who is unfaithful to You.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have taken my refuge in the Lord God,
that I may declare all Your works.
10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal,
but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.