Old/New Testament
Cities for the Levites
35 (A)Now Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities. 3 And the cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their beasts.
4 “And the pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city [a]outward [b]one thousand cubits around. 5 You shall also measure outside the city on the east side [c]two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.
Cities of Refuge
6 And the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the (B)six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be (C)forty-eight cities, [d]together with their pasture lands. 8 (D)Now as for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger, and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits.”
9 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “(E)Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 (F)then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your (G)cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has struck down any person (H)unintentionally may flee there. 12 (I)And the cities shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge. 14 You (J)shall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities [e]in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the foreign resident among them; that anyone who strikes a person down (K)unintentionally may flee there.
16 ‘(L)But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer (M)shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. 20 (N)And if he pushed him of hatred or threw something at him (O)lying in wait and as a result he died, 21 or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 ‘(P)But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity or threw something at him without lying in wait, 23 or with any stone—by which one might die, yet without seeing—and it fell upon him, and he died, but he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, 24 then (Q)the congregation shall judge between the [f]slayer and the blood avenger according to these legal judgments. 25 And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee, 27 and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood 28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.
29 ‘And these things shall be for a (R)statutory judgment to you throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.
30 ‘(S)If anyone strikes down a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the mouth of witnesses, but (T)no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. 32 And you shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land [g]before the death of the priest. 33 (U)So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except (V)by the blood of him who shed it. 34 And you shall not (W)defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which (X)I dwell; for I Yahweh am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”
Inheritance Through Marriage
36 (Y)And the heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, 2 and they said, “Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord (Z)was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 But if they [h]marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. 4 And when the (AA)jubilee of the sons of Israel [i]comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
5 Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the [j]word of Yahweh, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph are right in their statements. 6 (AB)This is [k]what Yahweh has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whoever is good in their sight; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’ 7 Thus (AC)no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall [l]be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each [m]hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 (AD)And every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 Thus no inheritance shall [n]be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each [o]hold to his own inheritance.”
10 Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: 11 (AE)And Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. 12 They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance [p]remained with the tribe of the family of their father.
13 (AF)These are the commandments and the judgments which Yahweh commanded to the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Teaching About Divorce
10 (A)And standing up, He *went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds *gathered around Him again, and, (B)according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.
2 And some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to [a]divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 And they said, “(C)Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and [b]send her away.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “[c](D)Because of your hardness of heart he wrote for you this commandment. 6 But (E)from the beginning of creation, God (F)made them male and female. 7 (G)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother[d], 8 (H)and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
10 And in the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He *said to them, “(I)Whoever [e]divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and (J)if she herself [f]divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”
Jesus Blesses Little Children
13 (K)And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; (L)for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, (M)whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He (N)took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
The Rich Young Ruler
17 (O)And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and (P)knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to (Q)inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments, ‘(R)Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept (S)all these things from my youth up.” 21 And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have (T)treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But at these words [g]he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.
23 And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “(U)How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples (V)were amazed at His words. But Jesus *answered again and *said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 (W)It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were even more astonished, saying to [h]Him, “[i]Then who can be saved?” 27 Looking at them, Jesus *said, “(X)With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
28 (Y)Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, (Z)there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 [j]except one who will receive one hundred times as much now in [k]the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions—and in (AA)the age to come, eternal life. 31 But (AB)many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
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