Cities for the Levites
1 The Lord spoke to Moses in sthe plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 2 t“Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts. 4 The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits1 all around. 5 And you shall measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities.
6 “The cities that you give to the Levites shall be uthe six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be vforty-eight, with their pasturelands. 8 And as for the cities that you shall give wfrom the possession of the people of Israel, xfrom the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, shall give of its cities to the Levites.”
Cities of Refuge
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, yWhen you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 zthen you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. 12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities that you give shall be your asix cities of refuge. 14 bYou shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and cfor the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.
16 d“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 17 And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 19 eThe avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. 20 And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, flying in wait, so that he died, 21 or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. eThe avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 “But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him gwithout lying in wait 23 or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, 24 then hthe congregation shall judge between the manslayer and ethe avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. 25 And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it iuntil the death of the high priest jwho was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, 27 and ethe avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. 28 For he must remain in his city of refuge iuntil the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. 29 And these things shall be for ka statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
30 “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the levidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. 32 And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not mpollute the land in which you live, for blood mpollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except nby the blood of the one who shed it. 34 oYou shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, pfor I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Marriage of Female Heirs
1 The heads of the fathers’ houses of the clan of the qpeople of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the chiefs, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. 2 They said, r“The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and smy lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when tthe jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
5 And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph uis right. 6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best, vonly they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father. 7 The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel wshall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And xevery daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.’”
10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses, 11 yfor Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father’s brothers. 12 They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.
13 These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel zin the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Jesus Delivered to Pilate
1 cAnd as soon as it was morning, the chief priests dheld a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And ethey bound Jesus and fled him away and gdelivered him over to hPilate. 2 iAnd Pilate asked him, j“Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, k“You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, l“Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus lmade no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified
6 mNow at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had ncommitted murder oin the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that pit was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with qthe man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? rWhat evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having sscourged1 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Jesus Is Mocked
16 tAnd the soldiers led him away inside uthe palace (that is, vthe governor’s headquarters),2 and they called together the whole wbattalion.3 17 And they clothed him in xa purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, y“Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and zspitting on him and akneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had bmocked him, they stripped him of xthe purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they cled him out to crucify him.
The Crucifixion
21 dAnd they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 eAnd they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with fmyrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and gdivided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And hit was the third hour4 when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, i“The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two jrobbers, kone on his right and one on his left.5 29 And lthose who passed by derided him, mwagging their heads and saying, n“Aha! oYou who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, p“He saved others; qhe cannot save himself. 32 Let rthe Christ, sthe King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may tsee and believe.” uThose who were crucified with him also reviled him.
The Death of Jesus
33 And when the sixth hour6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.7 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus vcried with a loud voice, w“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with xsour wine, put it on a reed yand gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus zuttered a loud cry and abreathed his last. 38 And bthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 cAnd when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he8 breathed his last, he said, d“Truly this man was the Son9 of God!”
40 There were also ewomen looking on ffrom a distance, among whom were gMary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and iSalome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and gministered to him, and there were also many other women who jcame up with him to Jerusalem.
Jesus Is Buried
42 kAnd when evening had come, since it was lthe day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, ma respected member of the council, who nwas also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.10 And summoning othe centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from othe centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph11 bought pa linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and qlaid him in a tomb rthat had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled sa stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 tMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
