Deuteronomy 19 - 20, 1 Corinthians 13 - 14, Psalm 115

Statutes About Cities of Refuge

19“^aWhen Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ²^ayou shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to ¹possess. ³“You shall prepare the ¹roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, ²so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴“^aNow this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend ¹without premeditation, ²not hating him previously— ⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ¹swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ²handle and ³strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ¹angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ²strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷“Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸“Now if Yahweh your God ^aenlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ¹promised to give to your fathers— ⁹if you ¹be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^ato love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^bthen you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰“So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^abloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹“But ^aif there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ¹his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ¹³“¹^,^aYou shall not pity him, but ^byou shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Statutes About Boundaries and Witnesses

¹⁴“^aYou shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to ¹possess.

¹⁵“^aA single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin ¹which he has committed; at the mouth of two or three witnesses a matter shall be established. ¹⁶“^aIf a malicious witness rises up against a man to ¹accuse him of ²wrongdoing, ¹⁷then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ^abefore Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸“And the judges ^ashall inquire thoroughly, and behold, if the witness is a false witness and he has ¹accused his brother falsely, ¹⁹then ^ayou shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. ²⁰“^aAnd the rest will hear and be afraid and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹“Thus ^ayour eye shall not show pity: ^blife for life, ^ceye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Statutes About Warfare

20“If you go out to battle against your enemies and see ^ahorses and chariots and people more numerous than you, ^bdo not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. ²“Now it will be, when you are drawing near to the battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people. ³“And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are drawing near to the battle against your enemies today. Do not let your heart be faint. ^aDo not be afraid, nor be alarmed, nor be in dread before them, ⁴for Yahweh your God ^ais the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ ⁵“The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house and has not ^adedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶‘Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not ¹begun to use its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man ²begin to use its fruit. ⁷‘^aAnd who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not ¹married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man ²marry her.’ ⁸“Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘^aWho is the man that is afraid and whose heart is faint? Let him go and return to his house, so that ¹he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’ ⁹“Now it will be that when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰“If you come near a city to fight against it, you shall call for terms of peace. ¹¹“Now it will be that if it ¹agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your ^aforced labor and shall serve you. ¹²“However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³“And Yahweh your God shall give it into your hand, ^aand you shall strike all the males in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴“Only the women and the little ones and ^athe animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall consume the spoil of your enemies which Yahweh your God has given you. ¹⁵“Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations ¹nearby. ¹⁶“^aOnly in the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. ¹⁷“But you shall devote them to destruction, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, ¹⁸so that they may not teach you to do ^aaccording to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, so that you would ^bsin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹“If you besiege a city for many days, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. ¹For is the tree of the field a man, that it should ²be besieged by you? ²⁰“Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you shall destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

Footnotes

19:21 Lit possess it
19:31 Lit road
19:32 Lit and it shall be for every manslayer to flee there
19:41 Lit without knowledge
19:42 Lit and he was not hating him previously
19:51 Lit is thrust with
19:52 Lit wood
19:53 Lit finds
19:61 Or hot
19:62 Lit strike him in the soul
19:81 Lit spoke
19:91 Lit keep...to do it
19:111 Lit him in the soul
19:131 Lit Your eye
19:141 Lit possess it
19:151 Lit in any sin, which he sins
19:161 Lit testify against
19:162 Lit turning aside
19:181 Lit testified against
20:61 Lit treat(ed) it as common
20:62 Lit treat(ed) it as common
20:71 Lit taken
20:72 Lit take
20:81 As in Gr and other ancient versions
20:111 Lit answers peace
20:151 Lit here
20:191 Read as interrogative with ancient versions
20:192 Lit come before you in the siege

Cross references

19:1a Deut 6:10; 11
19:2a Deut 4:41; Josh 20:2
19:4a Num 35:9-34
19:8a Gen 15:18
19:9a Deut 6:5
19:9b Josh 20:7
19:10a Num 35:33; Deut 21:1-9
19:11a Ex 21:12; Num 35:16; 1 John 3:15
19:13a Deut 7:2
19:13b 1 Kin 2:31
19:14a Deut 27:17; Job 24:2; Prov 22:28; Hos 5:10
19:15a Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Matt 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; Heb 10:28
19:16a Ex 23:1; Ps 27:12
19:17a Deut 17:9
19:18a Deut 25:1
19:19a Prov 19:5
19:20a Deut 17:13; 21:21
19:21a Deut 19:13
19:21b Ex 21:23; Lev 24:20
19:21c Matt 5:38
20:1a Deut 3:22; 7:18; 31:6; 8; Ps 20:7; Is 31:1
20:1b 2 Chr 32:7; 8; Ps 23:4; Is 41:10
20:3a Deut 20:1; Josh 23:10
20:4a Deut 1:30; 3:22; Josh 23:10
20:5a Neh 12:27
20:7a Deut 24:5
20:8a Judg 7:3
20:11a 1 Kin 9:21
20:13a Num 31:7
20:14a Josh 8:2
20:16a Ex 23:31-33; Num 21:2; 3; Deut 7:1-5; Josh 11:14
20:18a Ex 34:12-16; Deut 7:4; 9:5; 12:30; 31
20:18b Ex 23:33; 2 Kin 21:3-15; Ps 106:34-41

The Excellence of Love

13If I speak with the ^atongues of men and of ^bangels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a ^cclanging cymbal. ²And if I have the gift of ^aprophecy, and know all ^bmysteries and all ^cknowledge; and if I have ^dall faith, so as to ^eremove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³And if I ^agive all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I ^bsurrender my body ¹to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

⁴Love ^ais patient, love is kind, ^bis not jealous, does not brag, is not ^cpuffed up; ⁵it does not act unbecomingly, ^adoes not seek its own, is not provoked, ^bdoes not take into account a wrong suffered; ⁶^ait does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but ^brejoices with the truth; ⁷¹^,^ait bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails, but if there are gifts of ¹^,^aprophecy, they will be done away; if there are ^btongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. ⁹For we ^aknow in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the ¹perfect comes, the partial will be done away. ¹¹When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I ¹became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹²For now we ^asee in a mirror ¹dimly, but then ^bface to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also ^chave been fully known. ¹³But now abide faith, hope, love—these three; but the ¹greatest of these is ^alove.

Prophecy and Tongues

14^aPursue love, yet ^bearnestly desire ^cspiritual gifts, but especially that you may ^dprophesy. ²For one who ^aspeaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one ¹understands, but ²in his spirit he speaks ^bmysteries. ³But one who prophesies speaks to men for ^aedification and ^bexhortation and encouragement. ⁴One who ^aspeaks in a tongue ^bedifies himself; but one who ^cprophesies ^dedifies the church. ⁵But I wish that you all ^aspoke in tongues, but ^beven more that you would prophesy. And greater is one who prophesies than one who ^cspeaks in tongues, unless he ¹translates, so that the church may receive ^dedification.

⁶But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of ^arevelation or of ^bknowledge or of ^cprophecy or of ^dteaching? ⁷Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? ⁸For if ^athe trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? ⁹So also you, unless you utter by the tongue a word that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be ^aspeaking into the air. ¹⁰There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of sounds in the world, and none is without meaning. ¹¹If then I do not know the meaning of the sound, I will be to the one who speaks a ¹^,^abarbarian, and the one who speaks will be a ²barbarian ³to me. ¹²So also you, since you are zealous for ¹spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the ^aedification of the church.

¹³Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may ¹translate. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵^aWhat is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will ^bsing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. ¹⁶Otherwise if you bless ¹in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ²uninformed say ^athe “Amen” at your ^bgiving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not ^aedified. ¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all; ¹⁹however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰^aBrothers, ^bdo not be children in your thinking; rather in evil ^cbe infants, but in your thinking be mature. ²¹In ^athe Law it is written, “^bBy men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the ¹Lord. ²²So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but ^aprophecy is for a sign not to unbelievers but to those who believe. ²³Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ¹uninformed men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that ^ayou are out of your mind? ²⁴But if all ^aprophesy, and an unbeliever or an ¹uninformed man enters, he is ^bconvicted by all, he is called to account by all; ²⁵^athe secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will ^bfall on his face and worship God, declaring that ^csurely God is among you.

Orderly Worship

²⁶^aWhat is the outcome then, ^bbrothers? When you assemble, ^ceach one has a ^dpsalm, has a ^eteaching, has a ^frevelation, has a ^gtongue, has a ¹translation. Let all things be done for edification. ²⁷If anyone speaks in a ^atongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must ¹^,^btranslate; ²⁸but if there is no ¹translator, he must keep silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God. ²⁹And let two or three ^aprophets speak, and let the others ^bpass judgment. ³⁰But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. ³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted. ³²And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; ³³for God is not a God of ^aconfusion but of ¹peace, as in ^ball the churches of the ^csaints.

³⁴The women are to ^akeep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but ^bare to subject themselves, just as ^cthe Law also says. ³⁵But if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church. ³⁶¹Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it arrived to you only?

³⁷^aIf anyone thinks he is a prophet or ^bspiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you ^care the Lord’s commandment. ³⁸But if anyone remains ignorant about this, he ¹is ignored by God.

³⁹Therefore, my brothers, ^aearnestly desire to ^bprophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. ⁴⁰But ^aall things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.

To Yahweh’s Name Give Glory

115^aNot to us, O Yahweh, not to us,But ^bto Your name give gloryBecause of Your lovingkindness, because of Your ¹truth.²^aWhy should the nations say,“^bWhere, now, is their God?”³But our ^aGod is in the heavens;He ^bdoes whatever He pleases.⁴Their ^aidols are silver and gold,The ^bwork of man’s hands.⁵They have mouths, but they ^ado not speak;They have eyes, but they do not see;⁶They have ears, but they do not hear;They have noses, but they do not smell;⁷As for their hands, they do not feel;As for their feet, they do not walk;They do not make a sound with their throat.⁸^aThose who make them ¹will become like them,Everyone who trusts in them.⁹O ^aIsrael, ^btrust in Yahweh;He is their ^chelp and their shield.¹⁰O house of ^aAaron, trust in Yahweh;He is their help and their shield.¹¹You who ¹^,^afear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh;He is their help and their shield.¹²Yahweh ^aremembered us; He will bless!He will bless the house of Israel.He will bless the house of Aaron.¹³He will ^abless those who ¹fear Yahweh,^bThe small together with the great.¹⁴May Yahweh ^agive you increase,You and your children.¹⁵May you be blessed of Yahweh,^aWho made heaven and earth.¹⁶The heavens are ^athe heavens of Yahweh,But ^bthe earth He has given to the sons of men.¹⁷It is not the ^adead that praise Yah,And it is none of those who go down to ^bsilence;¹⁸But as for us, we will ^abless YahFrom now until forever.¹Praise Yah!