1 The Levitical priests — indeed the whole tribe of Levi — shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the Lord; that is their inheritance. 2Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.

3 This shall be the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether a bull or a sheep: the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. 4You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock. 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.

6 Now if a Levite moves from any town of residence throughout Israel and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, 7then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8They shall eat equal portions, even though he has received money from the sale of his father’s estate.

9 When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, 11casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead. 12For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord. And because of these detestable things, the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you.

13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”

17 Then the Lord said to me, “They have spoken well. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name. 20But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

21 You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the Lord has not spoken?” 22When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

1 When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses, 2then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

4 Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him: 5If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm. 7This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

8 And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them, 9and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the Lord your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

10 Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

11 If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, 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.

14 You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

15 A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

16 If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime, 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. 18The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, 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. 21You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

1 When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you. 2When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army, 3saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them. 4For the Lord your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

5 Furthermore, the officers are to address the army, saying, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man dedicate it. 6Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit. 7Has any man become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man marry her.”

8 Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”

9 When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.

10 When 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.

12 But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city. 13When the Lord your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword. 14But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city— all its spoil— you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you. 15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

16 However, in the cities of the nations that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. 17For you must devote them to complete destruction— the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the Lord your God.

19 When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them? 20But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.

28 About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took with Him Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. 29And as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became radiantly white. 30Suddenly two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with Jesus. 31They appeared in glory and spoke about His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

32 Meanwhile Peter and his companions were overcome by sleep, but when they awoke, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with Him. 33As Moses and Elijah were leaving, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters— one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”(He did not know what he was saying.)

34 While Peter was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35And a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him!”

36 After the voice had spoken, only Jesus was present with them. The disciples kept this to themselves, and in those days they did not tell anyone what they had seen.

37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, Jesus was met by a large crowd. 38Suddenly a man in the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39A spirit keeps seizing him, and he screams abruptly. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It keeps mauling him and rarely departs from him. 40I begged Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”

41 “O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

42 Even while the boy was approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

43 And they were all astonished at the greatness of God.

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus was doing, He said to His disciples, 44“Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45But they did not understand this statement. It was veiled from them so that they could not comprehend it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

46 Then an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47But Jesus, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, had a little child stand beside Him. 48And He said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. For whoever is the least among all of you, he is the greatest.”

49“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.”

50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus replied, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”