Deuteronomy 19; Deuteronomy 20; Deuteronomy 21; Mark 13:21-37 (New Living Translation)

1 "The LORD your God will soon destroy the nations whose land he is giving you, and you will displace them and settle in their towns and homes. 2 Then you must set apart three cities of refuge in the land the LORD your God is giving you to occupy. 3 Divide the land the LORD your God is giving you into three districts, with one of these cities in each district. Keep the roads to these cities in good repair so that anyone who has killed someone can flee there for safety. 4 "If someone accidentally kills a neighbor without harboring any previous hatred, the slayer may flee to any of these cities and be safe. 5 For example, suppose someone goes into the forest with a neighbor to cut wood. And suppose one of them swings an ax and the ax head flies off the handle, killing the other person. In such cases, the slayer could flee to one of the cities of refuge and be safe. 6 If the distance to the nearest city of refuge was too far, an enraged avenger might be able to chase down and kill the person who caused the death. The slayer would die, even though there was no death sentence and the first death had been an accident. 7 That is why I am commanding you to set aside three cities of refuge. 8 "If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he solemnly promised your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised them, 9 you must designate three additional cities of refuge. (He will give you this land if you obey all the commands I have given you -- if you always love the LORD your God and walk in his ways.) 10 That way you will prevent the death of innocent people in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, and you will not be held responsible for murder. 11 "But suppose someone hates a neighbor and deliberately ambushes and murders that neighbor and then escapes to one of the cities of refuge. 12 In that case, the leaders of the murderer's hometown must have the murderer brought back from the city of refuge and handed over to the dead person's avenger to be killed. 13 Do not feel sorry for that murderer! Purge the guilt of murder from Israel so all may go well with you. 14 "When you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, never steal someone's land by moving the boundary markers your ancestors set up to mark their property. 15 "Never convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of just one witness. The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 16 If a malicious witness comes forward and accuses someone of a crime, 17 then both the accuser and accused must appear before the priests and judges who are on duty before the LORD. 18 They must be closely questioned, and if the accuser is found to be lying, 19 the accuser will receive the punishment intended for the accused. In this way, you will cleanse such evil from among you. 20 Those who hear about it will be afraid to do such an evil thing again. 21 You must never show pity! Your rule should be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 1 "When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The LORD your God, who brought you safely out of Egypt, is with you! 2 Before you go into battle, the priest will come forward to speak with the troops. 3 He will say, 'Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight today! Do not lose heart or panic. 4 For the LORD your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!' 5 "Then the officers of the army will address the troops and say, 'Has anyone just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, go home! You might be killed in the battle, and someone else would dedicate your house! 6 Has anyone just planted a vineyard but not yet eaten any of its fruit? If so, go home! You might die in battle, and someone else would eat from it! 7 Has anyone just become engaged? Well, go home and get married! You might die in the battle, and someone else would marry your fianc‚e.' 8 Then the officers will also say, 'Is anyone terrified? If you are, go home before you frighten anyone else.' 9 When the officers have finished saying this to their troops, they will announce the names of the unit commanders. 10 "As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. 11 If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. 12 But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. 13 When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. 14 But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you. 15 But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of nations nearby. 16 "As for the towns of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing in them. 17 You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you. 18 This will keep the people of the land from teaching you their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the LORD your God. 19 "When you are besieging a town and the war drags on, do not destroy the trees. Eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. They are not enemies that need to be attacked! 20 But you may cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to besiege the town until it falls. 1 "Suppose someone is found murdered in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you, and you don't know who committed the murder. 2 In such cases, your leaders and judges must determine which town is nearest the body. 3 Then the leaders of that town must select a young cow that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. 4 They must lead it to a valley that is neither plowed nor planted with a stream running through it. There they must break the cow's neck. 5 The Levitical priests must go there also, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD's name. And they are to decide all lawsuits and punishments. 6 "The leaders of the town nearest the body must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken. 7 Then they must say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did we see it happen. 8 O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people Israel with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.' Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person's blood. 9 By following these instructions and doing what is right in the LORD's sight, you will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community. 10 "Suppose you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take captives. 11 And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. 12 If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her fingernails, 13 and change all her clothes. Then she must remain in your home for a full month, mourning for her father and mother. After that you may marry her. 14 But if you marry her and then decide you do not like her, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her. 15 "Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. 16 When the man divides the inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves. 17 He must give the customary double portion to his oldest son, who represents the strength of his father's manhood and who owns the rights of the firstborn son, even though he is the son of the wife his father does not love. 18 "Suppose a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. 19 In such cases, the father and mother must take the son before the leaders of the town. 20 They must declare: 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a worthless drunkard.' 21 Then all the men of the town must stone him to death. In this way, you will cleanse this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. 22 "If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and then hanged on a tree, 23 the body must never remain on the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone hanging on a tree is cursed of God. Do not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. 21 "And then if anyone tells you, 'Look, here is the Messiah,' or, 'There he is,' don't pay any attention. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones. 23 Watch out! I have warned you! 24 "At that time, after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, 25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. 26 Then everyone will see the Son of Man arrive on the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send forth his angels to gather together his chosen ones from all over the world -- from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven. 28 "Now, learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its buds become tender and its leaves begin to sprout, you know without being told that summer is near. 29 Just so, when you see the events I've described beginning to happen, you can be sure that his return is very near, right at the door. 30 I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these events have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever. 32 "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. 33 And since you don't know when they will happen, stay alert and keep watch. 34 "The coming of the Son of Man can be compared with that of a man who left home to go on a trip. He gave each of his employees instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return. 35 So keep a sharp lookout! For you do not know when the homeowner will return -- at evening, midnight, early dawn, or late daybreak. 36 Don't let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning. 37 What I say to you I say to everyone: Watch for his return!"