Old/New Testament
Levitical Cities
35 The Lord told Moses in the wilderness of Moab, beside the Jordan River near[a] Jericho, 2 “Instruct the Israelis to set aside a portion of their inheritance for the descendants of Levi to live in, along with grazing land surrounding their towns. 3 The towns are to be reserved for their dwelling places and the grazing lands[b] are to be reserved for their cattle, livestock, and all their animals. 4 The grazing lands that you are to reserve for use by the descendants of Levi are to extend 1,000 cubits[c] from the walls of the town. 5 You are to measure from outside the wall of the town on the east side 2,000 cubits,[d] on the south side 2,000 cubits,[e] on the west side 2,000 cubits,[f] and on the north side 2,000 cubits,[g] with the town placed at the center. This reserved area is to serve as grazing[h] land for their towns. 6 You are to set aside six towns of refuge from the towns that you will be giving to the descendants of Levi, where someone who kills a human being may run for shelter. In addition, give them 42 other towns. 7 The total number of towns that you are to give to the descendants of Levi is to be 48 towns, including grazing lands surrounding these towns. 8 You are to apportion the towns that you will be giving the Israelis according to the relative size of the tribe. Take a larger portion from those larger in number and a lesser portion from those fewer in number. Each is to set aside towns for the descendants of Levi proportional to the size of their inheritance that they receive.”
Appointment of Cities of Refuge
9 Then the Lord told Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelis that when they have crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 11 they are to designate some towns of refuge so that anyone who kills someone inadvertently may flee there. 12 They are to serve as cities of refuge from a blood avenger[i] in order to keep the inadvertent killer from dying until he has stood trial in the presence of the community. 13 You are to set aside six towns of refuge. 14 Appoint three towns this side of the Jordan River and three towns in the land of Canaan to serve as the towns of refuge, 15 that is, places[j] of refuge for the Israelis, the resident alien,[k] and any travelers among them. Anyone who kills a person inadvertently may flee there.”
Exceptions to Eligibility
16 “Whoever uses an iron implement to kill someone is to be adjudged[l] a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. 17 Furthermore, whoever uses a stone implement to kill someone is to be adjudged[m] a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. 18 Also, whoever uses a wooden implement to kill someone with it is to be adjudged[n] a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. 19 The blood avenger himself is to execute the murderer. When he meets him, the blood avenger[o] is to put him to death. 20 If the killer[p] shoved his victim[q] out of hatred, or hurled something[r] at him while waiting in ambush so that he died, 21 or if he struck him with his hand out of hatred so that he died, then the killer is certainly to be put to death for murder. The avenger of blood is to put him to death when he meets him.”
Case Examples for Eligibility
22 “But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or if he hurled something[s] in his direction without waiting in ambush, 23 or if he hit him[t] with a stone carelessly[u] so that he was fatally injured, though he isn’t his enemy and he wasn’t seeking to commit evil against him, 24 then the community is to judge between the inadvertent killer and the blood avenger, following these ordinances. 25 The community is to release[v] the inadvertent killer from the blood avenger and return him to the town of refuge where he had fled. He is to live there until the High Priest dies, who will have anointed him with holy oil. 26 But if the inadvertent killer leaves the town of refuge where he had fled 27 and the blood avenger finds him outside the town of refuge where he had fled and kills him, the blood avenger is not to be found guilty of murder. 28 The inadvertent killer[w] is to live in the town of refuge until the High Priest dies. After the death of the High Priest, the inadvertent killer is to return to the land of his inheritance. 29 These are to be the statutes and ordinances for you throughout all your generations, regardless of where you live.”[x]
Capital Cases Require Multiple Witnesses
30 “Every murderer of a human being[y] is to be executed only according to testimony[z] given by multiple witnesses. A single witness is not to result in a death sentence.[aa] 31 You are to receive no ransom for the life[ab] of a killer who is guilty of murder; instead, he is to die. 32 You are not to receive payment of a[ac] ransom for someone who had fled to a town of refuge but then left to live in his homeland before the death of the high priest. 33 You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. 34 You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I’m living among you. I am the Lord, who lives in Israel.”
The Daughters of Zelophehad(A)
36 The leaders of the ancestral families of the descendants of Gilead, who were descendants of Machir, and descendants of Manasseh, from Joseph’s tribe, approached and spoke to Moses and the leaders of the ancestral houses[ad] of the Israelis. 2 “The Lord commanded my master[ae] to apportion the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelis,” they said. “Now my master was ordered by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But when they get married to one of the descendants of the tribes of Israel, their inheritances are to be withdrawn from our father’s inheritance and added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they are to belong. Consequently, it is to be withdrawn from the portion of our inheritance. 4 Then, when the Jubilee Year of the Israelis comes, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they have come to belong. Their inheritance will thus be taken away from the inheritance of our father’s tribe!”
5 So Moses issued the Israelis these orders based on what the Lord said: “The tribe of the descendants of Joseph has spoken. 6 This is what the Lord is commanding the daughters of Zelophehad: If they decide it’s a good idea in their opinion[af] to get married only within the family of their father’s tribe, then let them get married 7 so that the inheritance of the Israelis won’t be turned over[ag] from one tribe to another. Each one has an inheritance from his own father’s tribe that the Israelis are to maintain. 8 Every daughter who is in possession of an inheritance from the Israelis is to marry someone from the families within her father’s tribe so the Israelis can retain possession of their ancestral inheritance. 9 That way, their inheritance won’t be turned over from one tribe to another, because the Israelis are each to maintain their ancestral inheritances.”
10 Zelophehad’s daughters did just what the Lord had commanded Moses 11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah: Zelophehad’s daughters married their uncle’s sons. 12 They married[ah] into families of the descendants of Manasseh, that is, Joseph’s descendants, so that their inheritance remained within the tribe of their ancestor’s family.
13 These were the commands and the ordinances that the Lord issued to the Israelis through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan River in Jericho.
Teaching about Divorce(A)
10 Then Jesus[a] left that place and went into the territory of Judea on the other side[b] of the Jordan. Crowds gathered around him as usual, and he began to teach them again as was his custom. 2 Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 “What did Moses command you?” he responded.
4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce her.”[c]
5 But Jesus told them, “It was because of your hardness of heart that he wrote this command for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God[d] made them male and female.’[e] 7 That’s why ‘a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’[f] So they’re no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore, what God has joined together, man must never separate.”
10 Back in the house, the disciples asked him about this again. 11 So he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman[g] divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Jesus Blesses the Little Children(B)
13 Some people[h] were bringing little children to Jesus[i] to have him touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought[j] them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he became furious and told them, “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of God belongs to people like these. 15 I tell all of you[k] with certainty, whoever doesn’t receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 Then after he had hugged the children,[l] he tenderly blessed them as he laid his hands on them.
A Rich Man Comes to Jesus(C)
17 As Jesus[m] was setting out again,[n] a man ran up to him, knelt down in front of him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Nobody is good except for one—God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Never murder.’[o] ‘Never commit adultery.’[p] ‘Never steal.’[q] ‘Never give false testimony.’[r] ‘Never cheat.’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’”[s]
20 The man[t] replied to him, “Teacher, I have obeyed all of these since I was a young man.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. Then he told him, “You’re missing one thing. Go and sell everything you own, give the money[u] to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me.” 22 Shocked at this statement, the man[v] went away sad, because he had many possessions.
Salvation and Reward(D)
23 Then Jesus looked around and told his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were startled by these words, but Jesus told them again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their wealth[w] to get into the kingdom of God! 25 It’s easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples[x] were utterly amazed and asked one another,[y] “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “For humans it’s impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”
28 Then Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “I tell all of you[z] with certainty, there is no one who has left his home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or fields because of me and the gospel 30 who will not receive a hundred times as much here in this world—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, along with persecution—as well as eternal life in the age to come. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
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