Old/New Testament
19 “When the LORD your God shall root out the nations whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,
2 “you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.
3 “You shall prepare the way for yourself and divide the coasts of the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit into three parts, so that every manslayer may flee there.
4 “This also is the cause for which the manslayer shall flee there and live: whoever kills his neighbor ignorantly and did not hate him in time past —
5 “as he who goes to the forest with his neighbor to cut wood and his hand strikes with the axe to cut down the tree, if the head slips from the helve and hits his neighbor so that he dies—the same shall flee to one of the cities and live;
6 “lest the avenger of the blood follows after the manslayer while his heart is hot and overtakes him (because the way is long) and kills him, although he is not worthy of death because he did not hate him in time past.
7 “Therefore I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’
8 “And when the LORD your God enlarges your coasts (as He has sworn to your fathers) and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers
9 “(if you keep all these Commandments, to do them, which I command you this day: that you love the LORD your God and walk in His ways forever), then you shall add three more cities for yourselves besides those three,
10 “so that no innocent blood is shed within your land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit (lest blood be upon you).
11 “But, if a man hates his neighbor and lays in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes any man so that he dies and flee to any of these cities,
12 “then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there and deliver him to the hands of the avenger of the blood, so that he may die.
13 “Your eye shall not spare him, but you shall put away the cry of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
14 “You shall not remove your neighbor’s border, which those of old time have set in your inheritance, so that you shall inherit in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.
15 “One witness shall not rise against a man for any trespass, or for any sin, or for any fault in which he offends. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16 “If a false witness rises up against a man to accuse him of trespass,
17 “then both men who strive together shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.
18 “And the judges shall make diligent inquisition. And if the witness is found false (has given false witness against his brother),
19 “then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall take away evil from among you.
20 “And the rest shall hear and fear and shall no longer commit any such wickedness among you.
21 “Therefore, your eye shall have no compassion: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
20 “When you shall go forth to war against your enemies and shall see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them. For the LORD your God is with you, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
2 “And when you have come near the battle, then the Priest shall come forth to speak to the people,
3 “and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel. You have come this day to battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts faint or fear or tremble or dread them.
4 ‘For the LORD your God goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’
5 “And let the officers speak to the people, saying, ‘Whatever man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it, let him go and return to his house, lest he dies in the battle and another man dedicates it.
6 ‘And whatever man who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of the fruit, let him go back to his house, lest he dies in the battle and another eats the fruit.
7 ‘And whatever man who has betrothed a wife and has not yet married her, let him go back to his house, lest he die in battle and another man marries her.’
8 “And let the officers speak further to the people, and say, ‘Whoever is afraid and faint-hearted, let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart faints like his heart.’
9 “And after the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, they shall make captains of the army to govern the people.
10 “When you come near to a city, to fight against it, you shall offer it peace.
11 “And if it answers you peaceably, and opens to you, then let all the people who are found in it be tributaries to you and serve you.
12 “But if it will make no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.
13 “And the LORD your God shall deliver it into your hands. And you shall strike all its males with the edge of the sword.
14 “But the women and the children and the cattle and all that is in the city, all its spoil you shall take for yourself. And you shall eat the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you.
15 “Thus shall you do to all the cities which are far away from you, which are not of the cities of these nations here.
16 “But of the cities of this people, which the LORD your God shall give you to inherit, you shall save no person alive.
17 “But you shall utterly destroy them—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—as the LORD your God has Commanded you,
18 “so that they do not teach you to follow after all their abominations which they have done for their gods, that you should sin against the LORD your God.
19 “When you have besieged a city for a long time, and made war against it, to take it, do not destroy its trees by striking them with an axe. If you may eat from them, then you shall not cut them down to further yourself in the siege, (for the tree of the field is man’s sustenance).
20 “Only those trees which you know are not for food shall you destroy and cut down and make forts against the city that makes war with you, until you subdue it.”
21 “If one is found killed in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field (it is not known who has killed him),
2 “then your elders and your judges shall come forth and measure to the cities that are around him who is killed.
3 “And let the elders of that city which is next to the killed man take a heifer that has not been put to labor or drawn the yoke.
4 “And let the elders of that city bring the heifer to a stony valley, which is neither plowed nor sown, and break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
5 “Also the priests, the sons of Levi (whom the LORD your God has chosen to minister, and to bless in the Name of the LORD) shall come forth. And by their word shall all strife and plague be settled.
6 “And all the elders of that city that came near the killed man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.
7 “And they shall testify, and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
8 ‘O LORD, be merciful to Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed. And lay no innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And the blood shall be forgiven them.
9 “So shall you take away the cry of innocent blood from you when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
10 “When you shall go to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God shall deliver them into your hands, and you shall take them captives,
11 “and shall see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her, and would take her for your wife,
12 “then you shall bring her home to your house. And she shall shave her head and trim her nails.
13 “And she shall change the garment that she was taken in. And she shall remain in your house and mourn her father and her mother for a month. And after that, you shall go in to her, and marry her. And she shall be your wife.
14 “And if you do not favor her, then you may let her go where she will. But you shall not sell her for money or make merchandise of her, because you have humbled her.
15 “If a man has two wives—one loved and another hated—and they have born him children (both the loved and also the hated), if the firstborn is the son of the hated,
16 “then, when the time comes that he appoints his sons to be heirs of that which he has, he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn.
17 “But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated as the firstborn and give him double portion from all that he has. For he is the first of his strength, and to him belongs the right of firstborn.
18 “If any man has a son that is stubborn and disobedient, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother. And they have chastened him. And he would not obey them.
19 “Then his father and his mother shall take him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place where he dwells,
20 “and shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and disobedient. He will not obey our admonition. He is a rioter and a drunkard.’
21 “Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones until death. So you shall take away evil from among you, so that all Israel may hear it and fear.
22 “If a man also has committed a trespass worthy of death, and is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
23 “his body shall not remain upon the tree all night. But you shall bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him who is hanged. Therefore, do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit.”
21 “Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ’, or ‘Look, he is there’, do not believe it.
22 “For false christs shall rise, and false prophets, and shall show signs and wonders to deceive (if it were possible) the very Elect.
23 “But beware. Behold, I have shown you all things before.
24 “Moreover, in those days, after that tribulation, the Sun shall grow dark. And the Moon shall not give her light.
25 “And the stars of Heaven shall fall. And the powers which are in Heaven shall shake.
26 “And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and Glory.
27 “And then He shall send his angels and shall gather together His Elect from the four winds and from the utmost part of the Earth to the utmost part of Heaven.
28 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When her branch is still tender, and it brings forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
29 “So, in like manner, when you see these things happen, know that the Kingdom of God is near, even at the doors.
30 “Truly I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things are done.
31 “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.
32 “But of that day and hour knows no one. No, not the angels who are in Heaven, nor the Son Himself, but the Father.
33 “Beware. Watch. And pray. For you do not know when the time is.
34 “For the Son of Man is as a man who goes into a strange country and leaves his house, and gives authority to his servants, and to everyone his work, and commands the doorman to watch.
35 Watch, therefore. For you do not know when the master of the house will come - at evening or at midnight, at the cock crowing or in the dawning.
36 Lest, if he comes suddenly, he should find you sleeping.
37 And these things that I say to you, I say to all. Watch.
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