Old/New Testament
Rules about safe cities
19 The Lord your God will destroy the nations who now live in the land that he is giving to you. You will chase them out and you will live in their cities and in their houses. 2-3 Make the land into three separate regions. Then choose three special cities, one city in each region.[a] Build good roads to each city so that people can easily travel to them. Then anyone who kills a person can run to one of these cities to be safe.
4 This is the rule when anyone has killed another person: If it was a mistake, he can run to a safe city. He can do that if he has killed someone that he did not already hate. 5 For example, two men may go to the forest to cut wood. As one man cuts wood with his axe, the metal part of the axe flies off. It hits the other man and it kills him. Then the killer can run to the nearest of the three cities. He will be safe there.
6 If there was no safe city near enough, the killer might not escape safely. The dead person's relative might chase him, catch him and kill him.[b] But the killer did not deserve to die. He had made a mistake. He had killed someone that he did not already hate. 7 So I command you to choose three cities to be safe cities for yourselves.[c]
8 The Lord your God promised your ancestors to give you more land to live in. When all that land belongs to you, 9 you must continue to obey all the commands that I am giving you today. You must continue to love the Lord your God and live in a way that pleases him. Then, when your land becomes bigger, you must choose three more cities to be safe cities. 10 You must not punish with death people who are not guilty. That would make you guilty yourselves. That must not happen in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
11 But perhaps somebody does hate another person. He may hide himself so that he can catch his enemy. Then he may attack him and kill him. After that, he may run to one of the safe cities. 12 If he does that, the leaders of his own town must fetch him back. They must bring him to the dead person's relative. He must die as his punishment. 13 Do not be sorry for him. You must punish murderers with death. Then Israel will not be guilty of evil acts. If you do that, everything will be well for you.
More rules
14 When you go to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, each family will receive their piece of land. You must never move the stones that show the edge of your neighbour's land. It has always belonged to them.
15 If only one person says that he has seen someone do something wrong, that is not enough. There must be at least two or three people who saw the sin. Then the judge may say that the person is guilty.
16 Somebody may accuse another person because he wants to hurt him. He tells lies against him. 17 Then both of them must stand in front of the judges that the Lord has chosen. Those are the priests and the judges who have authority at that time. 18 The judges must be careful to discover who is telling the truth. The person may be speaking lies against another Israelite to accuse him. 19 If he is telling lies, you must punish him in the same way that he wanted to punish the other Israelite. You must remove evil things like this from among yourselves. 20 Then everyone else will hear what has happened. They will be afraid to do any more evil things like that. 21 Do not be sorry for people who are guilty. Punish people as they deserve: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.[d]
Rules for war
20 Do not be afraid when you go out to fight a war against your enemies. You may see that their armies have more horses, chariots and soldiers than you have. Do not be afraid of them! Remember that the Lord your God is with you. He rescued you from Egypt. 2 As you prepare to fight a battle, the priest must come to speak to your soldiers. 3 He must say, ‘Israelites, listen to me! Today you will fight against your enemies. Do not be afraid. Be brave! Do not shake with fear because your enemy is so strong. 4 The Lord your God is going into battle with you. He will fight for you against your enemies. He will cause you to win.’
5 Then the officers must say to the soldiers, ‘Has any of you built a new house but he has not yet asked God to bless it? If so, he may go home. If he does not, he may die in the battle. Then someone else will ask God to bless his home. 6 Has anyone planted a field with grapes but he has not yet picked any fruit? He also may go home. If he does not, he may die in the battle. Then someone else will enjoy the fruit. 7 Has anyone promised to marry a woman? If he has not married her yet, he may go home too. If not, he may die in the battle. Then another man will marry her.’
8 Then the officers must also say to the soldiers, ‘Is any of you afraid? Does anyone not feel brave? He may go home. Then he will not cause other men to be afraid like him.’
9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they must choose other officers to lead the groups of soldiers.
10 Before you start to attack a city, you must offer peace to the people who live there. Tell them what they must do to stop you attacking them. 11 If they agree, they will open the city's gates to let you go in. Then all the people in the city will become your slaves, to do hard work for you. 12 But they may refuse to agree. They may start to fight against you. If they do that, you must put your soldiers all around the city. 13 The Lord your God will give the city to you. Then you must kill all the men there. 14 But you can take for yourselves the women, the children, the animals and other valuable things in the city. You can take all these things from your enemies that God gives to you. 15 You must do this to all the cities that are far away from you. But it is different for the cities that belong to the nations of Canaan where you will live.
16 You will take for yourselves the cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as your home. In those cities, you must kill everything that is alive, people and animals. 17 You must completely destroy all the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this to the people of those nations.[e] 18 If not, they would teach you all the evil things that they do to worship their gods. They would cause you to do bad things against the Lord your God.
19 Perhaps you are preparing to attack a city. Your soldiers may have their camp around the city for a long time. If so, you must not cut down the fruit trees. Then you can eat the fruit from them. These trees are not people, like your enemies! So do not attack them! 20 But you can cut down the other trees that do not provide any food. You can use the wood to make things that will help you to attack the city. You can do this until you go into the city and you take it for yourselves.
Rules about murder
21 In the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, you may find someone's dead body lying in a field. Someone has killed him but you do not know who the murderer is. 2 Your leaders and your judges must then go to the field. They must measure how far the place is from the nearest towns. 3 Then the leaders from the town that is nearest to the body must take a young cow that has never done work on a farm. 4 They must lead the cow down to a valley where no one has ploughed the ground or planted seed. There must be a stream of water in the valley. There they must break the cow's neck.
5 The Levite priests must go there too. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to ask him to bless his people. They also decide as judges what is right. 6 After the leaders of the town have broken the cow's neck, they must wash their hands over it.[f]
7 Then they will say, ‘We did not kill this person. We did not see who killed him. 8 Please Lord, accept this animal from your people, Israel, that you have rescued. Do not say that we are guilty of this murder. This person did not deserve to die like this.’
When they do that, the Lord will accept their gift and he will forgive you. 9 In this way, you will not be guilty of the murder. You will remove this evil act from among you. You must do what the Lord says is right.
Marriage
10 When you go to fight a battle against your enemies, the Lord your God will give you power over them. You will take some of them as prisoners. 11 You may see among them a beautiful woman that you want to take as your wife. 12 Then you must bring her into your home. She must cut the hair off her head. She must cut her fingernails.[g] 13 She must change the clothes that she was wearing when you found her. Let her live in your house and weep for her parents for a whole month. Then you may have sex with her. You will be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 Later, you may not be pleased with her. If so, you must let her go wherever she wants. You must never sell her or make her become a slave. You must not do that, because you have made her have sex with you, as your wife.
Firstborn sons
15 A man may have two wives, but he may love only one of them. Each wife may give birth to a son. The firstborn son may be the son of the wife that he does not love. 16 But when the man shares his things with his children, he must promise this: After his death, the firstborn son will receive what he should have. The man may not choose to give the double share of his things to the son of the wife that he loves. 17 He must recognize that his firstborn son is the son of the wife that he does not love. This son was the first son born to that man. So he must receive the double share of his father's things. That is what God's Law says must happen.[h]
A son who turns against his parents
18 Perhaps a man has a son who refuses to obey his parents. They punish him to teach him what is right, but he refuses to listen to them. 19 If so, his parents must take their son to the leaders at the city gate. 20 They must say to the leaders, ‘This is our son. He refuses to obey us. He does not do what we tell him. He only wants to do what will please himself. He drinks too much and he becomes drunk.’
21 Then all the men of the city must throw stones at the son until he is dead. In this way, you must remove all evil things like that from among you. Then all Israel's people will hear about what has happened. They will be afraid.
22 A person may do an evil thing so that you punish him with death. If you have hung his dead body on a tree, 23 you must not leave it there during the night. Be careful to bury it on the same day that he died. If someone's body is hanging on a tree, it shows that God has cursed him. So do not leave it there. The Lord your God is giving the land to you so that it belongs to you. So do not let evil things spoil your land.
21 At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah!” Or they may say, “Look, he is there!” If they say that, do not believe them. 22 Some people will even say, “I am the Messiah.” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen. 23 So watch out! I have told you about all these things before they happen.
The time when the Son of Man returns
24 Then, after all these bad things have happened, the sun will become dark. The moon will not shine any more. 25 Stars will fall out of the sky. And the powerful things in the sky will shake.
26 Then people will see the Son of Man. He will come in the clouds. He will have great power and bright glory. 27 Then he will send his angels. They will go in every direction, to every part of the earth and to every part of the sky. They will bring together all the people that God has chosen.
A lesson about the fig tree
28 Here is a lesson for you to learn about the fig tree. When the new branches on the tree start to grow, the leaves appear. Then you know that the summer will begin soon. 29 In the same way, you will see these strange things happening. Then you will know that the Son of Man will come very soon. He will be like someone at the door who is ready to come in. 30 I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen. 31 One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.
Nobody knows when the Son of Man will return to the world
32 Nobody knows the day or the hour when all these things will happen. Only God the Father knows when they will happen. The angels who are in heaven do not know. Even the Son does not know. 33 Watch carefully! Keep awake! You do not know the time when all these things will happen. 34 It is like when a man begins a journey. Before the master leaves his house, he gives authority to his servants. He tells each servant about the work that he should do. Then he tells the servant at the door to watch for his master's return.
35 So you must watch carefully. You do not know when the master of the house will come back. He might arrive in the evening, or in the middle of the night. Or he might arrive early in the morning, or just before the sun rises. 36 When he arrives, he may surprise you. He may even find you asleep! 37 I am saying this to you. I am also saying this to everyone else. Always be ready!’
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