"Now this is the situation for any killer who flees there to live: suppose he strikes his friend unwittingly, not having hated him previously.

Since hile the distance may be great, the angry avenger may overtake the killer he is pursuing and kill him, in which case there will be no justice in his death, because he did not hate his friend previously.

"However, if a person hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, and attacks him so that he dies, and then he flees to one of those cities,

then the elders of his own city shall send for him, remove him from there, and deliver him to the related avenger for execution.

Have no pity on him, but totally purge the shedding of innocent blood from Israel so that life may go well with you."

When a malicious witness takes the stand against a man and accuses him,

do to him just as he intended to do to his relative. By doing this you will purge evil from your midst.

"Furthermore, let the officials ask the army, "Is there a man here who has built a new house but has not yet dedicated it? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.

And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard and not yet benefited from it? Let him go home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man use it.

And is there a man here who is engaged to a woman and has not yet married her? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man marry her.'

"Let the officials also speak to the army, "Is there a man here who is afraid and faint-hearted? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may demoralize his fellow soldier.'

"If a murder victim is found fallen in the open country of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

"If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife,

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn of the unloved wife by giving him double of everything he owns, because he is really the first fruit of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him."

"If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents, and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them,

then his parents are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city.

Then all the men of his city are to stone him with boulders so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will be afraid."

his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don't defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your inheritance."

"When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countryman straying, don't go away and leave it. Instead, be sure to return it to him.

If your fellow countryman doesn't live near you or you don't know who he is, bring the animal to your house and let it remain with you until he claims it. Then return it to him.

The elders of that city will then take the man, punish him,

fine him 100 shekels of silver, and then give them to the young lady's father, because he defamed a virgin of Israel. She is to remain his wife and he can't divorce her as long as he lives.

As for the young lady, don't do anything to her. The young lady did nothing worthy of death. This case is similar to when a man attacks his countryman and kills him.

Let him live among you wherever he chooses in any of your cities that he likes. Don't mistreat him."

"If a man chooses to enter into marriage with a woman, but she finds herself displeasing to him because he has found something objectionable about her, he must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her out of his house.

"When a man is newly married, he must not be sent out to war or have a related duty placed on him. Let him stay home for one year and be happy with his wife whom he has married.

"If a man is found kidnapping his relative, a fellow Israeli, and mistreats or sells him, that kidnapper must die. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.

Be sure to return his garment to him at sunset so that he may sleep with it, and he will bless you. It will be a righteous deed in the presence of the LORD your God.

If the guilty person deserves a beating, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes fit for his crime.

Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, "I don't want to marry her,'

Approach the priest who is in charge at that time and say to him, "I acknowledge today to the LORD your God that I've arrived in the land that the LORD promised our ancestors to give us.'

Then set it in the presence of the LORD your God and worship him. Rejoice with the descendants of Levi and the foreigner among you at all the good things that the LORD your God has given you and your family."

Build the altar to the LORD your God with uncut stones, then offer a burnt offering to him.

"The LORD will send the curse among you, will confuse you, and will rebuke you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and perish quickly because of your evil deeds, since you will have forsaken him.

He will lend to you, but you won't lend to him. He'll be the head, but you'll be the tail.

so that he will elevate you to be a people for him. And he will be God to you, just as he promised you and swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

"The LORD won't forgive such a person. Instead, the zealous anger of the LORD will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the LORD will wipe out his memory from under heaven.

The LORD will set him apart from all the tribes of Israel for destruction, according to the curses of the covenant that were written in this Book of the Law."

and when you you and your descendants, that is will have returned to him and obeyed all the commands that I'm giving you today with all your heart and soul,

Then the LORD your God will circumcise both your hearts and those of your descendants so that you can love him with your heart and with your soul and therefore live.

if you obey him and keep his commands and statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, and if you return to him with all your heart and soul.

Love the LORD your God, obey his voice, and cling to him, because he is your life even your long life so that you may live in the land that the LORD promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Then Moses called on Joshua and told him in the presence of everyone in Israel, "Be strong and courageous, because you'll bring this people to the land that the LORD your God had promised to give your ancestors. You will be the one who causes them to possess it.

Then the LORD told Moses: "Look! Because your time to die is approaching, call Joshua, present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, and then I will commission him." Moses and Joshua complied and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

because I know that after my death, you'll surely act wickedly and turn from the road that I've instructed you. As a result, evil will fall on you in days to come, because you'll act wickedly in the sight of the LORD, causing him to become angry due to your behavior."

But those who are not his children acted corruptly against him; they are a defective and perverted generation.

The LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye.

Like an eagle stirs its nest, hovering near its young, spreading out his wings to take him and carry him on his pinions,

the LORD alone guided him. There was no foreign god with him.

He mounted him on a high place above the earth, feeding him from the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil from the flint rock,

Jacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation.

They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things.

"Sing for joy, nations! Sing for joy, people who belong to him! For he'll avenge the blood of his servants, turn on his adversary, and cleanse both his land and his people."

He declared this about Judah: "Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah and return him to his people. With his own strength he fights for himself, and you will be of assistance against his enemies."

LORD, bless his substance and approve the work that he undertakes. Shatter the legs of those who oppose against him; may those who hate him stand no more."

About Benjamin he said: "The beloved of the LORD will live confidently, the Most High protecting him all day long, and resting in his bosom."

May the firstborn of his bull be honorable to him, and may his horns be those of a wild ox. With them may he push people all together, to the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh."

About Asher he said: "May Asher be blessed, along with his descendants, may his brothers be pleased with him, may he dip his feet in oil,

Moses ascended from the desert plain of Moab toward Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the entire land, from Gilgal as far as Dan,

Then the LORD told him: "This is the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by an oath when I said, "I'll give it to your descendants.' I'll let you see it with your eyes, but you won't cross over there."

Now Nun's son Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had placed his hands on him, so Israelis listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

What signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do throughout the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all of his servants who lived in the whole land!

After Moses, the servant of the LORD, had died, the LORD spoke to Nun's son Joshua, announcing to him,

Everyone who leaves through the doors of your house into the street will be responsible for his own death, but we'll be responsible for anyone who remains with you in the house if even so much as a hand is laid on him.

Later, the two men returned from the hill country, crossed over the Jordan River, approached Nun's son Joshua, and told him everything that had happened to them.

That day, the LORD exalted Joshua in the presence of all Israel so that they revered him just as they had revered Moses throughout his life.

Now it happened that while Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and much to his amazement, he saw a man standing in front of him, holding a drawn sword in his hand! Joshua approached him and asked him, "Are you one of us, or are you with our enemies?"

"Neither," he answered. "I have come as commander of the LORD's Army." Joshua immediately fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, saying to him, "Lord, what do you have for your servant by way of command?"

The one selected as having taken what has been turned over to destruction is to be incinerated, along with everything that pertains to him, because he has transgressed against the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrageous thing in Israel."'"

Then Joshua, with all Israel accompanying him, took Zerah's son Achan, along with the silver, the mantle, the gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that belonged to him to the Valley of Achor.

Joshua announced, "Why did you bring trouble to us? Today the LORD is bringing trouble to you!" So all Israel stoned him to death, incinerated them, and buried them with stones,

The entire fighting force with him attacked, approaching the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.

When the king of Ai saw what had happened, he and his army quickly got up early and went out to meet Israel in battle. He and all his people met at the place adjacent to the desert plain. But he didn't know about the ambush that had been set for him on the other side of the city.

Then they approached Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and addressed him and the Israelis, "We've arrived from a distant country, so please make a treaty with us right now."

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, along with his entire fighting force of mighty warriors with him.

So they did. They brought out these five kings to him from within the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

When they had brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel and spoke to the leaders of the men who had gone out to war along with him, "Come close and put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came near and put their feet on their necks.

Then Horam king of Gezer appeared to help Lachish. So Joshua attacked him and his army, until he left no one remaining.

Joshua dealt with them just as the LORD had told him: he hamstrung their horses and incinerated their chariots.

Joshua did just what the LORD had commanded his servant Moses and just what Moses had commanded him, leaving nothing unfinished.

When Joshua had grown old, having lived many years, the LORD told him, "You are old and have lived many years, but much of the land still remains to be possessed.

The Israelis also killed Beor's son Balaam, the occult practitioner, executing him with a sword as one of those killed.

After this, the descendants of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal. Jephunneh the Kenizzite's son Caleb told him, "You know the promise that the LORD gave Moses the man of God concerning the two of us in Kadesh-barnea.

I was 40 years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout the land. I brought back an honest report to him.

So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Jephunneh's son Caleb for his inheritance.

Othniel, the son of Caleb's brother Kenaz, captured it, so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah as his wife.

Sometime later, she came to Othniel and persuaded him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb asked her, "What do you want?"

The territorial allotment for the tribe of Manasseh, the firstborn of Joseph, was allocated first to Machir the firstborn of Manasseh and father of Gilead. Since he had been a man of war, Gilead and Bashan were allocated to him.

He may run to one of those cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and tell his side of the story to the elders of the city. They are to bring him inside the city with them and provide him a place to live among them.

Now if the closely related avenger pursues him, then they are not to hand the killer over to him, because he killed his neighbor without premeditation and without hating him beforehand.

Only be very careful to keep the commands and the Law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you that is, to love the LORD your God, to follow in all of his ways, to keep his commands, to stay close to him, and to serve him with all your heart and soul."

and ten officials with him (one for each of the tribal families of Israel, each one of them a family leader among the tribes of Israel).

When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the community, and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him heard what the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh said, they were pleased.

"Long ago your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah, father of both Abraham and Nahor, where they served other gods. Then I took your ancestor Abraham from the other side of the Euphrates River and led him through the entire land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants, and gave him his son Isaac.

"Now you must fear the LORD and serve him in faithfulness and truth. Throw away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Instead, serve the LORD.

they buried him in his territorial inheritance at Timnath-serah in the mountainous region of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

Later, Aaron's son Eleazar also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which belonged to his son Phinehas, and which had been given to him in the mountainous region of Ephraim.

They located Adoni-bezek in Bezek, fought him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

Adoni-bezek ran off, but they pursued him, caught him, and amputated his thumbs and big toes.

Adoni-bezek used to brag, "Seventy kings without thumbs and big toes used to eat what was left under my table. God has repaid me for what I've done." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he later died there.