Numbers 35; Numbers 36; Mark 10:1-31

Numbers 35

1 In the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho the Lord said to Moses,

2 "Tell the Israelites that from the property they receive they must give the Levites some cities to live in and pasture land around the cities.

3 These cities will belong to the Levites, and they will live there. The pasture land will be for their cattle and all their other animals.

4 The pasture land is to extend outward from the city walls five hundred yards in each direction,

5 so that there is a square area measuring one thousand yards on each side, with the city in the middle.

6 You are to give the Levites six cities of refuge to which any of you can escape if you kill someone accidentally. In addition, give them forty-two other cities

7 with their pasture land, making a total of forty-eight.

8 The number of Levite cities in each tribe is to be determined according to the size of its territory."

9 The Lord told Moses

10 to say to the people of Israel: "When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land of Canaan,

11 you are to choose cities of refuge to which any of you can escape if you kill someone accidentally.

12 There you will be safe from the dead person's relative who seeks revenge. No one accused of manslaughter is to be put to death without a public trial.

13 Choose six cities,

14 three east of the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan.

15 These will serve as cities of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners who are temporary or permanent residents. Anyone who kills someone accidentally can escape to one of them.

16 "If, however, any of you use a weapon of iron or stone or wood to kill someone, you are guilty of murder and are to be put to death.

19 The dead person's nearest relative has the responsibility for putting the murderer to death. When he finds you, he is to kill you.

20 "If you hate someone and kill him by pushing him down or by throwing something at him

21 or by striking him with your fist, you are guilty of murder and are to be put to death. The dead person's nearest relative has the responsibility for putting the murderer to death. When he finds you, he is to kill you.

22 "But suppose you accidentally kill someone you do not hate, whether by pushing him down or by throwing something at him.

23 Or suppose that, without looking, you throw a stone that kills someone whom you did not intend to hurt and who was not your enemy.

24 In such cases the community shall judge in your favor and not in favor of the dead person's relative who is seeking revenge.

25 You are guilty only of manslaughter, and the community is to rescue you from the dead person's relative, and they are to return you to the city of refuge to which you had escaped. You must live there until the death of the man who is then High Priest.

26 If you leave the city of refuge to which you have escaped

27 and if the dead person's relative finds you and kills you, this act of revenge is not murder.

28 Any of you guilty of manslaughter must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest, but after that you may return home.

29 These rules apply to you and your descendants wherever you may live.

30 "Those accused of murder may be found guilty and put to death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses; the evidence of one witness is not sufficient to support an accusation of murder.

31 Murderers must be put to death. They cannot escape this penalty by the payment of money.

32 If they have fled to a city of refuge, do not allow them to make a payment in order to return home before the death of the High Priest.

33 If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered.

34 Do not defile the land where you are living, because I am the Lord and I live among the people of Israel."

Numbers 36

1 The heads of the families in the clan of Gilead, the son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh son of Joseph, went to Moses and the other leaders.

2 They said, "The Lord commanded you to distribute the land to the people of Israel by drawing lots. He also commanded you to give the property of our relative Zelophehad to his daughters.

3 But remember, if they marry men of another tribe, their property will then belong to that tribe, and the total allotted to us will be reduced.

4 In the Year of Restoration, when all property that has been sold is restored to its original owners, the property of Zelophehad's daughters will be permanently added to the tribe into which they marry and will be lost to our tribe."

5 So Moses gave the people of Israel the following command from the Lord. He said, "What the tribe of Manasseh says is right,

6 and so the Lord says that the daughters of Zelophehad are free to marry anyone they wish but only within their own tribe.

7 The property of every Israelite will remain attached to his tribe.

8 Every woman who inherits property in an Israelite tribe must marry a man belonging to that tribe. In this way all Israelites will inherit the property of their ancestors,

9 and the property will not pass from one tribe to another. Each tribe will continue to possess its own property."

10 So Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, did as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they married their cousins.

12 They married within the clans of the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their property remained in their father's tribe.

13 These are the rules and regulations that the Lord gave the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

Mark 10:1-31

1 Then Jesus left that place, went to the province of Judea, and crossed the Jordan River. Crowds came flocking to him again, and he taught them, as he always did.

2 Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him. "Tell us," they asked, "does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?"

3 Jesus answered with a question, "What law did Moses give you?"

4 Their answer was, "Moses gave permission for a man to write a divorce notice and send his wife away."

5 Jesus said to them, "Moses wrote this law for you because you are so hard to teach.

6 But in the beginning, at the time of creation, "God made them male and female,' as the scripture says.

7 "And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife,

8 and the two will become one.' So they are no longer two, but one.

9 No human being must separate, then, what God has joined together."

10 When they went back into the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter.

11 He said to them, "A man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife.

12 In the same way, a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery."

13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people.

14 When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, "Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

15 I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."

16 Then he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them.

17 As Jesus was starting on his way again, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?"

18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone.

19 You know the commandments: "Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; do not cheat; respect your father and your mother.' "

20 "Teacher," the man said, "ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments."

21 Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, "You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me."

22 When the man heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he went away sad, because he was very rich.

23 Jesus looked around at his disciples and said to them, "How hard it will be for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!"

24 The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus went on to say, "My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!

25 It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."

26 At this the disciples were completely amazed and asked one another, "Who, then, can be saved?"

27 Jesus looked straight at them and answered, "This is impossible for human beings but not for God; everything is possible for God."

28 Then Peter spoke up, "Look, we have left everything and followed you."

29 "Yes," Jesus said to them, "and I tell you that those who leave home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel,

30 will receive much more in this present age. They will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields - and persecutions as well; and in the age to come they will receive eternal life.

31 But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first."