Deuteronomy 21

²¹For behold, the Lord is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.

⁶You destroy those who tell lies; the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

¹⁷A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.

⁴When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

¹²For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval.

⁴For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.

¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

²“This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.

¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the Lord my God.

²⁸Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

²¹For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

²²“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”

¹³The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart forever to consecrate the most holy things, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister before Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name forever.

⁷For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

⁸At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they do to this day.

¹⁷both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.

²²Then the Lord said to Moses,

²³“Tell Aaron and his sons: This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

⁵For the Lord your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.

¹³Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.

⁶I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O Lord,

⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”

²⁵All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

¹²Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

¹⁰They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?

²²Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

¹⁹And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse.

²⁰But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’—

³¹Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?

³²He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

⁸The Lord has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!”

³O Lord my God, if I have done this, if injustice is on my hands,

⁴if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,

¹⁴So they cried out to the Lord: “Please, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life! Do not charge us with innocent blood! For You, O Lord, have done as You pleased.”

²⁸Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.

³and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

²⁴They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards.

²⁵And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.

⁴and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was unwilling to forgive.

¹²Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

¹²the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.

¹³You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

³⁰Nevertheless, the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”

³¹Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

¹⁸because you obey the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments I am giving you today and doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

¹⁰When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace.

¹¹If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.

⁴⁴And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.

¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”

²⁵Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

³⁰Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

¹⁴So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

¹⁵When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh.

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

⁸But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.

²²to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

⁶If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.

⁹On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair—his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and he will be clean.

⁹If someone suddenly dies in his presence and defiles his consecrated head of hair, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing—the seventh day.

²⁶“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.

²⁷And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

¹⁰Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,

¹¹and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.

²⁹then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

¹⁹They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁴you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁷And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.

⁸If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her.

²⁴Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

³¹When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

⁴And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

⁵But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the Lord had closed her womb.

²And though Judah prevailed over his brothers and a ruler came from him, the birthright belonged to Joseph.

¹⁰Hosah the Merarite also had sons: Shimri the first (although he was not the firstborn, his father had appointed him as the first),

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.

²⁹For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

¹⁶See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.

¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.

³Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and precious things, as well as the fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

³¹“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied.

³²“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”

¹These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.

²And though Judah prevailed over his brothers and a ruler came from him, the birthright belonged to Joseph.

³⁶Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor.

⁵Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.

⁶But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

³Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

¹²Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹¹“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the Lord.

¹²“Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

⁹Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

¹⁷As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.

⁷But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”

²your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.

¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

³And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through.

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.

²⁰Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.

¹⁷Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul.

²⁶He who assaults his father or evicts his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace.

¹⁹you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²⁰Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.

¹⁰Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹¹Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

¹⁶Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

⁵Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²¹she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁵you must bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you must stone that person to death.

³¹It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.

³²So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and those of the other.

³¹On their way out, they said to one another, “This man has done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment.”

³³When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left.

²⁶Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.

⁶⁶What do you think?” “He deserves to die,” they answered.

²⁹I found that the accusation involved questions about their own law, but there was no charge worthy of death or imprisonment.

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

³¹It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.

²¹God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

²⁵Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

³For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”