Today's Reading

¹When the Lord your God shall cut off the nations, whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you succeed them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses;

²you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you to possess it.

³You shall prepare you the way, and divide the borders of your land, which the Lord your God causes you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there.

⁴This is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee there and live: whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past;

⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and lights on his neighbor, so that he dies; he shall flee to one of these cities and live:

⁶lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he did not hate him in time past.

⁷Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for yourselves.

⁸If the Lord your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers;

⁹if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, besides these three:

¹⁰that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be on you.

¹¹But if any man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities;

¹²then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

¹³Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

¹⁴You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess it.

¹⁵One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.

¹⁶If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,

¹⁷then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days;

¹⁸and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother;

¹⁹then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

²⁰Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of you.

²¹Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

¹When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

²It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,

³and shall tell them, "Hear, Israel, you draw near this day to battle against your enemies: do not let your heart faint; do not be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them;

⁴for the Lord your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."

⁵The officers shall speak to the people, saying, "What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

⁶What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit.

⁷What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her."

⁸The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, "What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother's heart melt as his heart."

⁹It shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.

¹¹It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.

¹²If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

¹³and when the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword:

¹⁴but the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its spoil, you shall take for a prey to yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶But of the cities of these peoples, that the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;

¹⁷but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as the Lord your God has commanded you;

¹⁸that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them; for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of you?

²⁰Only the trees of which you know that they are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it fall.

¹If one be found slain in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him;

²then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain:

³and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn't been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke;

⁴and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

⁵The priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the Lord your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

⁶All the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;

⁷and they shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

⁸Forgive, Lord, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not allow innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel." The blood shall be forgiven them.

⁹So you shall put away the innocent blood from the midst of you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord.

¹⁰When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive,

¹¹and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire to her, and would take her to you as wife;

¹²then you shall bring her home to your house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

¹³and she shall put the clothing of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

¹⁴It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her at all for money, you shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.

¹⁵If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers who was hated;

¹⁶then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn:

¹⁷but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not listen to them;

¹⁹then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;

²⁰and they shall tell the elders of his city, "This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard."

²¹All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

²²If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree;

²³his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

¹It happened, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.

²Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.

³Jesus, answering, spoke to the Law scholars and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"

⁴But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.

⁵He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, would not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"

⁶They could not answer him regarding these things.

⁷He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,

⁸"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,

⁹and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

¹²He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.

¹³But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;

¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they do not have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."

¹⁵When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God!"

¹⁶But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.

¹⁷He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'

¹⁸They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'

¹⁹"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'

²⁰"Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

²¹"That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'

²²"The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'

²³"The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"

²⁵Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,

²⁶"If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

²⁹Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,

³⁰saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'

³¹Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.

³³So therefore whoever of you who does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.

³⁴Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹ Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?

²No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,

⁵which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be.

⁶Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Lord.

⁷Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.

⁸Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.

¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;

¹¹so that men shall say, "Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth."

¹Do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.

⁹Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man's friend.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend. Do not go to your brother's house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!

¹⁴He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.

¹⁵A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike:

¹⁶restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend's countenance.

¹⁸Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man's eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

²³Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:

²⁴for riches are not forever, nor does even the crown endure to all generations.

²⁵The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.

²⁶The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.

²⁷There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, for your family's food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.