Old/New Testament

Cities of Refuge

19 “When Adonai your God cuts off the nations whose land Adonai your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and houses, ² you are to set apart three cities for yourself within the land He is giving you to possess. ³ You are to prepare the way for yourself and divide into three parts the borders of your land that Adonai your God enables you to inherit, so that anyone who kills may flee there. ⁴ Now this is the case of the one who kills, who may flee there and live—whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally and did not hate him in the past— ⁵ as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood, and his hand takes a swing with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron flies off the wood and hits his neighbor so that he dies. He may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise if the way is long, the avenger of the blood, while his heart is hot, may chase the manslayer, catch up to him and strike him dead. Yet no death sentence is on him, since he did not hate him in the past. ⁷ Therefore I am commanding you—set apart three cities for yourself.

⁸ “Suppose Adonai your God enlarges your territory, as He has sworn to your fathers, and He gives you all the land that He promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ when you take care to do all this mitzvah that I am commanding you today, to love Adonai your God and to always walk in His ways. Then you are to add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ Then innocent blood will not be shed within your land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, and there would be blood upon you.

¹¹ “But suppose someone hates his neighbor, waits in hiding for him, rises up against him, strikes him dead, then flees to one of these cities. ¹² Then the elders of his hometown should send and take him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood, to die. ¹³ Your eye should not pity him, but you must purge the innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴ “You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker that the first generations marked out, in the inheritance you will receive in the land Adonai your God is giving you to possess.

¹⁵ A single witness shall not rise up against a person for any offense or sin that he commits. By the word of two or three witnesses is a case to be established. ^{[a] 16} Suppose a hostile witness rises up against someone to accuse him of wrongdoing. ¹⁷ Then both people who have the dispute will stand before Adonai, before the kohanim and judges in charge at that time. ¹⁸ The judges are to investigate thoroughly, and if indeed the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother, ¹⁹ then you are to do to him just as he had plotted to do to his brother. So you will purge the evil from your midst. ²⁰ Those who remain will hear and be afraid, and they will no longer do such an evil thing as this in your midst. ²¹ Your eye must not show pity—life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Confidence in Battle

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horse and chariot—a people more numerous than you—do not be afraid of them. For Adonai your God, the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. ² When you draw near to the battle, the kohen will come forward and speak to the people. ³ He will say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are drawing near today to the battle against your enemies. Don’t be fainthearted! Don’t fear or panic or tremble because of them. ⁴ For Adonai your God is the One who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you.’

⁵ “The officers are to speak to the troops saying, ‘What man has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. ⁶ What man has planted a vineyard but has not put it to use? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use it. ⁷ What man has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? Let him go back to his house—otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’ ⁸ The officers will speak further to the troops and say, ‘What man is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house—so he does not weaken his brothers’ heart like his own.’ ⁹ Then when the officers have finished speaking to the troops, they should appoint army commanders at the head of the troops.

¹⁰ “When you go near a city to fight against it, call out shalom to it. ¹¹ Now if it answers you shalom and opens up to you, then all the people found in it will serve you as forced laborers. ¹² If it does not make peace with you but makes war against you, then lay siege against that city. ¹³ When Adonai your God hands it over to you, you are to strike all its males with the sword. ¹⁴ Only the women, children, livestock and all that is in the city—all its spoil—may you take as plunder for yourself. So you may consume your enemies’ spoil, which Adonai your God has given you. ¹⁵ Thus you will do to all the cities that are very distant from you, which are not among the towns of these nations nearby. ¹⁶ However, only from the cities of these peoples, which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes live. ¹⁷ You must utterly destroy them—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as Adonai your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ You are to do this so they will not teach you to do all the abominations as they have done for their gods, and so you would sin against Adonai your God.

¹⁹ “When you lay siege to a city for a long time, making war against it to capture it, you are not to destroy its trees by swinging an axe at them. For from them you may eat, so you shall not chop them down. For is the tree of the field human, that it should enter the siege before you? ²⁰ You may destroy and chop down only the trees that you know are not trees for food, so that you may build siege equipment against the city that is making war with you until its downfall.

Purging Innocent Blood

21 “Suppose a slain person is found fallen in a field, on the land Adonai your God is giving you to possess—who struck him is unknown. ² Then your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance to the towns that are around the slain one. ³ Now the town nearest to the slain one—the elders of that city are to take from the herd a heifer that has not been used for work or pulled a yoke. ⁴ Then the elders of that city are to bring the heifer down to a flowing wadi that has not been plowed or sown, and break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi. ⁵ The kohanim, the sons of Levi, will come forward—for Adonai your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His Name, and by their mouth every dispute and assault is to be settled. ⁶ All the elders of that city nearest to the slain one will wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi. ⁷ Then they will answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see. ⁸ Grant atonement for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Adonai, and do not put innocent blood on Your people Israel.’ Then atonement will be granted to them for the blood. ⁹ So you will purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in Adonai’s sight.

Parashat Ki Tetzei

When You Go Out

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Adonai your God hands them over to you and you take them captive, ¹¹ suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire her and would take her as a wife for yourself. ¹² Then you are to bring her into your house, and she must shave her head, trim her nails, ¹³ and remove her captive’s clothing, then sit in your house and weep for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may go to her and become her husband and she will be your wife. ¹⁴ Now if you are not pleased with her, then you may send her off wherever she wishes. But you must certainly not sell her for silver—you may not treat her as merchandise, since you have humiliated her.

¹⁵ “Suppose a man has two wives—the one loved and the other unloved—and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons. But it happens that the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife. ¹⁶ Now on the day he lets his sons inherit what he has, he must not treat the loved one’s son as firstborn, in place of the unloved one’s son, who is the firstborn. ¹⁷ Rather, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated one, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first of his vigor—the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not listen to the voice of his father or mother. They discipline him, but he does not listen to them. ¹⁹ Then his father and mother are to grab hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city—to the gate of his place. ²⁰ They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious—he does not listen to our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones to death. So you will purge the evil from your midst—and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

Hung on a Tree

²² “Suppose a man is guilty of a sin with a death sentence and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree. ²³ His body is not to remain all night on the tree—instead you must certainly bury him the same day, for anyone hanged is a curse of God.^[b] You must not defile your land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance.

²¹ “And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there He is!’ do not believe it. ²² For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up^[a] and show signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the chosen. ²³ So be careful! See, I have told you everything beforehand.”

Messianic Victory

²⁴ “But in those days, after that trouble,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.’^[b]

²⁶ And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’^[c] with great power and glory. ²⁷ Then He will send out the angels and will gather together His chosen from the four winds, from the end of the earth, to the end of heaven.”

Keep Watch

²⁸ “Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So also, when you see all these things happening, know that it is near, at the door. ³⁰ Amen, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. ³² But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, except the Father.

³³ “Keep on the lookout! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time is. ³⁴ It is like a man away on a journey. After leaving his house and putting his servants in charge and giving each his task, he also commanded the doorkeeper to watch. ³⁵ Therefore stay alert, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the early morning. ³⁶ So watch in case, coming suddenly, he finds you asleep. ³⁷ What I say to you I say to all: ‘Stay alert!’”