Old/New Testament

Cities for the Levites

35 The Lord said to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, ² “Tell the people of Israel to give the Levites cities to live in from the land they receive. And give the Levites fields around the cities. ³ The cities will be theirs to live in. Their fields will be for their cattle and flocks and for all their animals. ⁴ The fields you give the Levites should be around the cities, from the city walls out 500 long steps. ⁵ And you should number 1,000 long steps from the city on the east side, on the south side, on the west side, and on the north side, with the city in the center. These fields around the cities will belong to them for their animals. ⁶ The cities you give the Levites will be the six cities where people can go to be safe. They will be where a man may run to if he has killed another person. And give them forty-two other cities, added to these. ⁷ Give forty-eight cities in all to the Levites, together with their fields. ⁸ Take more cities from the larger families of Israel to give to the Levites. And take less cities from the smaller families. Each should give some of its cities to the Levites by how much land is received.”

The Cities to Be a Safe Place

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ choose which cities are to be the ones where you can run to be safe. The man who has killed a person without meaning to may run there. ¹² The cities will be a safe place for you from the one who wants to punish you. So the one who has killed a person may not die until the people decide if he is guilty or not. ¹³ The cities you give will be your six cities where you can go to be safe. ¹⁴ Give three cities on the east side of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan. They will be the cities where you can go to be safe. ¹⁵ These six cities will be safe places for the people of Israel and for the stranger and for the one who visits them. Anyone who kills a person without meaning to may run there.

¹⁶ ‘But if he killed him with an iron object, then he is guilty. For sure the killer will be put to death. ¹⁷ If he knocked him down with a stone so that he died, he is guilty. For sure the killer will be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he hit him with a piece of wood in his hand so that he died, he is guilty. For sure the killer will be put to death. ¹⁹ The man who wants to punish him for the killing will put the killer to death. He will put him to death when he meets him. ²⁰ If the killer has pushed him because he hated him, or has thrown something at him after waiting for him, and because of this he died, ²¹ or if he hit him down with his hand because he hated him and killed him, for sure the one who killed him must be put to death. He is guilty. The man who wants to punish him for the killing will put him to death when he meets him.

²² ‘But if he pushed him without planning to and without hating him, or threw something at him without having waited for him, ²³ or he threw a stone without seeing him, killing him without hating him or meaning to hurt him, ²⁴ then the people will decide by these Laws between the killer and the one who wants to punish him. ²⁵ The people will save the killer from the man who wants to punish him. And they will return him to his city where he had gone to be safe. He will live in it until the death of the head religious leader who was set apart with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if the man who killed another person at sometime goes outside his city where he went to be safe, ²⁷ then the man who wants to punish him will not be guilty of blood if he finds him outside the safe city and kills him. ²⁸ Because the man should have stayed in his city to be safe until the death of the head religious leader. But after the head religious leader dies, the man who killed another person may return to his own land.

²⁹ ‘These things will be a Law to you and to all your children-to-come in all your homes. ³⁰ If anyone kills a person, the killer must be put to death by what is told by those who saw the killing. But no person may be put to death because of what one person says. ³¹ You must not take pay to save the life of a killer who is guilty of death. But he must be put to death. ³² You must not take pay for him who has run to his city to be safe, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the religious leader. ³³ You must not make the land where you live unclean. The land is not holy when people are killed. And only the blood of him who is guilty can pay to make the land free from the blood that has fallen on it. ³⁴ Do not make the land where you live unclean, in the place where I live. For I the Lord am living among the people of Israel.’”

Married Women and What They Would Get from Their Families

36 The heads of the fathers’ houses of the family group of the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near. They spoke in front of Moses and the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. ² They said, “The Lord told my lord to give the land to the people of Israel by drawing names. And my lord was told by the Lord to give the land of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ But if they marry one of the sons of the other family groups of Israel, then their land would be taken away from what was given to our fathers and would be added to the land of the family group they marry into. So it would be taken from the land that had been given to us. ⁴ When the Year of Jubilee of the people of Israel comes, their land will be added to the land of the family group into which they marry. So their land will be taken from the land of the family group of our fathers.”

⁵ Then Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord said. He said, “The family group of the sons of Joseph are right in what they say. ⁶ This is what the Lord has said about the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best. Only they must marry within the family group of their father.’ ⁷ This way no land of the people of Israel will go from one family group to another. The people of Israel will each hold to the land of the family group of his fathers. ⁸ Every daughter who comes to own the land of any family group of Israel, must be the wife of one of her father’s family group. So every one of the people of Israel may own the land of his fathers. ⁹ No land will go from one family group to another. For the families of Israel will each hold to his own land.” ¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did just as the Lord had told Moses. ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father’s brothers. ¹² They married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph. And their land stayed with their father’s family group.

¹³ These are the Laws which the Lord told the people of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Jesus Teaches about Divorce ^(A)

10 Jesus went away from the city of Capernaum. He came to the country of Judea and to the other side of the Jordan River. Again the people gathered around Him. He began to teach them as He had been doing.

² The proud religious law-keepers came to Him. They tried to trap Him and asked, “Does the Law say a man can divorce his wife?” ³ He said to them, “What did the Law of Moses say?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife, if he put it in writing and gave it to her.” ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Because of your hard hearts, Moses gave you this Law. ⁶ From the beginning of the world, God made them man and woman. ⁷ Because of this, a man is to leave his father and mother and is to live with his wife. ⁸ The two will become one. So they are no longer two, but one. ⁹ Let no man divide what God has put together.”

¹⁰ In the house the followers asked Jesus about this again. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is not faithful to her and is guilty of a sex sin. ¹² If a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she is not faithful to her husband and is guilty of a sex sin.”

Jesus Gives Thanks for Little Children ^(B)

¹³ They brought little children to Jesus that He might put His hand on them. The followers spoke sharp words to those who brought them. ¹⁴ Jesus saw this and was angry with the followers. He said, “Let the little children come to Me. Do not stop them. The holy nation of God is made up of ones like these. ¹⁵ For sure, I tell you, whoever does not receive the holy nation of God as a little child does not go into it.” ¹⁶ He took the children in His arms. He put His hands on them and prayed that good would come to them.

Jesus Teaches about Keeping the Law ^(C)

¹⁷ Jesus was going on His way. A man ran to Him and got down on his knees. He said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life that lasts forever?” ¹⁸ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? There is only One Who is good. That is God. ¹⁹ You know the Laws, ‘Do not be guilty of sex sins in marriage. Do not kill another person. Do not take things from people in wrong ways. Do not steal. Do not lie. Respect your father and mother.’” ²⁰ The man said to Jesus, “Teacher, I have obeyed all these Laws since I was a boy.” ²¹ Jesus looked at him with love and said, “There is one thing for you to do yet. Go and sell everything you have and give the money to poor people. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow Me.” ²² When the man heard these words, he was sad. He walked away with sorrow because he had many riches here on earth.

The Danger of Riches

²³ Jesus looked around Him. He said to His followers, “How hard it is for rich people to get into the holy nation of God!” ²⁴ The followers were surprised and wondered about His words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children! How hard it is for those who put their trust in riches to get into the holy nation of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.”

²⁶ They were very surprised and wondered, saying to themselves, “Then who can be saved from the punishment of sin?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “This cannot be done by men but God can do anything.”

²⁸ Then Peter began to say to Him, “We have given up everything we had and have followed You.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “For sure, I tell you, there are those who have given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands because of Me, and the Good News. ³⁰ They will get back one hundred times as much now at this time in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands. Along with this, they will have very much trouble. And they will have life that lasts forever in the world to come. ³¹ Many who are first will be last. Many who are last will be first.”