ShoftimJudges

1Reading 1 Deuteronomy 16:18–17:13Chapter page with footnotes →

Judges and Justice

^16:18Judges and officers you shall appoint for yourself in all your gates that the LORD your God gives you, by your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹You shall not turn aside judgment; you shall not recognize faces; and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

²⁰Righteousness, righteousness you shall pursue, so that you may live and possess the land that the LORD your God gives you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

²¹You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah, any tree, beside the altar of the LORD your God that you make for yourself. ²²And you shall not set up for yourself a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

Detestable Sacrifices

^17:1You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which there is a blemish, any evil thing; for that is an abomination of the LORD your God.

Purge the Idolater

²If there be found in your midst, in one of your gates which the LORD your God is giving to you, a man or a woman who does the evil in the eyes of the LORD your God, to transgress His covenant, ³and he goes and serves other gods and bows down to them, or to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded, ⁴and it is told to you and you hear, and you inquire diligently, and behold, it is true, the thing is established, this abomination has been done in Israel, ⁵then you shall bring out that man or that woman who have done this evil thing, to your gates, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones, and they shall die. ⁶At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall the one who is to die be put to death; he shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness. ⁷The hand of the witnesses shall be against him first to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. So you shall burn away the evil from your midst.

Courts of Law

⁸If a matter be too hard for you for the judgment, between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, and between plague and plague, matters of disputes in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses in it. ⁹And you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they shall declare to you the word of the judgment.

¹⁰And you shall do according to the mouth of the word which they declare to you from that place which the LORD chooses, and you shall observe to do according to all that they teach you. ¹¹According to the mouth of the Torah which they teach you, and according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, right or left.

¹²And the man who acts presumptuously, by not hearing to the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall burn away the evil from Israel. ¹³And all the people shall hear and fear, and shall not act presumptuously again.

2Reading 2 Deuteronomy 17:14–20Chapter page with footnotes →

Guidelines for a King

^17:14When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving to you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and you say, "I will set over me a king like all the nations which are around me," ¹⁵you shall surely set over you a king whom the LORD your God chooses in him; from the midst of your brothers you shall set over you a king; you may not put over you a foreign man who is not your brother.

¹⁶Only he shall not multiply for himself horses, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses; for the LORD has said to you, "You shall not again return by this way anymore." ¹⁷And he shall not multiply for himself wives, so that his heart turn not aside; and silver and gold he shall not greatly multiply for himself.

¹⁸And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah on a scroll, from before the priests the Levites. ¹⁹And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, in order that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to do them, ²⁰so that his heart be not lifted up above his brothers, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, right or left; in order that he may prolong days over his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

3Reading 3 Deuteronomy 18:1–5Chapter page with footnotes →

Provision for Priests and Levites

^18:1The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel; the fire-offerings of the LORD and His inheritance they shall eat. ²And he shall have no inheritance in the midst of his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as He has spoken to him.

³And this shall be the judgment of the priests from the people, from those who sacrifice the sacrifice, whether ox or sheep: he shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw. ⁴The firstfruit of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your flock, you shall give to him. ⁵For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, he and his sons all the days.

4Reading 4 Deuteronomy 18:6–13Chapter page with footnotes →

^18:6And if a Levite comes from one of your gates out of all Israel, where he sojourns, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which the LORD chooses, ⁷then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before the LORD. ⁸Portion like portion they shall eat, apart from his sales according to the fathers.

Sorcery Forbidden

⁹When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving to you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found in you one who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who divines divinations, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or one who binds a binding-spell, or one who inquires of a ghost or a familiar spirit, or one who seeks to the dead. ¹²For an abomination of the LORD is everyone who does these things; and because of these abominations the LORD your God is dispossessing them from before you.

¹³You shall be blameless with the LORD your God.

5Reading 5 Deuteronomy 18:14–19:13Chapter page with footnotes →

^18:14For these nations whom you are dispossessing hearken to soothsayers and to diviners; but you—not so has the LORD your God given to you.

A Prophet Like Moses

¹⁵A prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like me, the LORD your God will raise up for you; to him you shall hearken, ¹⁶according to all that you asked from the LORD your God at Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, "Let me not again hear the voice of the LORD my God, and this great fire let me not see again, lest I die."

¹⁷And the LORD said to me, "They have done well in what they have spoken. ¹⁸A prophet I will raise up for them from the midst of their brothers, like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹And it shall be, the man who does not hear to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him. ²⁰But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die."

²¹And if you say in your heart, "How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?"— ²²that which the prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, and the thing is not, and does not come to pass, that is the word which the LORD has not spoken; in presumption the prophet has spoken it; you shall not be afraid of him.

Cities of Refuge

^19:1When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving to you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ²three cities you shall separate for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving to you to possess it. ³You shall prepare for yourself the way, and you shall divide into three the border of your land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit, and it shall be for every manslayer to flee there.

⁴And this is the matter of the manslayer who shall flee there and live: whoever strikes his neighbor without knowledge, and he did not hate him from yesterday and the day before; ⁵and who comes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and his hand swings with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron slips off from the wood and finds his neighbor and he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live;

⁶lest the redeemer of blood pursue after the manslayer, because his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him—a soul—though he has no judgment of death, since he did not hate him from yesterday and the day before. ⁷Therefore I am commanding you, saying, "Three cities you shall separate for yourself."

⁸And if the LORD your God enlarges your border, as He swore to your fathers, and gives to you all the land which He spoke to give to your fathers— ⁹if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk in His ways all the days, then you shall add for yourself three more cities to these three;

¹⁰that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving to you as an inheritance, and blood be upon you.

¹¹But if a man be hating his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises against him, and strikes him—a soul—and he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the redeemer of blood, and he shall die. ¹³Your eye shall not pity him, and you shall burn away the blood of the innocent from Israel, and it shall be well with you.

6Reading 6 Deuteronomy 19:14–20:9Chapter page with footnotes →

^19:14You shall not move back your neighbor's boundary, which the former ones set, in your inheritance which you inherit, in the land which the LORD your God is giving to you to possess it.

The Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses

¹⁵One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin, in any sin that he sins; at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall a matter be established.

¹⁶If a witness of violence rise up against a man, to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷then the two men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days. ¹⁸And the judges shall inquire diligently, and behold, the witness is a false witness; he has testified falsely against his brother; ¹⁹then you shall do to him as he had purposed to do to his brother; so you shall burn away the evil from your midst. ²⁰And those who remain shall hear and fear, and shall not do again according to this evil thing in your midst. ²¹And your eye shall not pity: soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Laws of Warfare

^20:1When you go out to the battle against your enemies, and see horse and chariot, a people more than you, you shall not fear from them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. ²And it shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, ³and shall say to them, "Hear, O Israel, you are drawing near today to the battle against your enemies; let not your heart be faint, do not fear, and do not tremble, and do not be terrified before them; ⁴for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."

⁵And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, "Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not made common use of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man make common use of it. ⁷And who is the man that has betrothed a woman and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her."

⁸And the officers shall add to speak to the people, and they shall say, "Who is the man that is fearful and faint of heart? Let him go and return to his house, and let not his brothers' heart melt as his heart."

⁹And it shall be, when the officers finish speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people.

7Reading 7 Deuteronomy 20:10–21:9Chapter page with footnotes →

^20:10When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then you shall call out to it for peace. ¹¹And it shall be, if it answers you peace and opens to you, then it shall be that all the people found in it shall become to you for forced labor, and they shall serve you.

¹²And if it does not make peace with you, but makes war with you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³And the LORD your God shall give it into your hand, and you shall strike every male of it by the mouth of the sword. ¹⁴Only the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you. ¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the cities very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶Only from the cities of these peoples, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall not keep alive any breath; ¹⁷but you shall utterly devote them — the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite — as the LORD your God has commanded you; ¹⁸so that they teach you not to do according to all their abominations, which they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹When you besiege a city many days, fighting against it to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them; for from them you may eat, and you shall not cut them down; for is the man the tree of the field, to come before you in the siege? ²⁰Only a tree that you know that it is not a tree for food, it you may destroy and cut down, and you shall build siege-works against the city that makes war with you, until its fall.

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

^21:1When one slain is found in the ground which the LORD your God gives you to possess it, fallen in the field, it is not known who struck him, ²then your elders and your judges shall go out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around the slain one.

³And it shall be that the city nearest to the slain one — even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, which has not drawn in the yoke, ⁴and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to an ever-flowing valley, which is not worked and is not sown, and they shall break the neck of the heifer there in the valley.

⁵And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall draw near — for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and according to their mouth shall be every dispute and every stroke. ⁶And all the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain one, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷and they shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen. ⁸Atone for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and do not put innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel." And the blood shall be atoned for them. ⁹And you shall put away the innocent blood from your midst, when you do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD.

PIsaiah 51:12–52:12Chapter page with footnotes →

^51:12I, even I, am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who is made as grass;

¹³and you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; and you dread continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, as he makes ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴He who is bowed down hastens to be loosed; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread fail.

¹⁵For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the LORD of hosts is his name.

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth, and in the shadow of my hand I have covered you, to plant the heavens, and to lay the foundations of the earth, and to say to Zion, "You are my people."

God’s Fury Removed

¹⁷Rouse yourself, rouse yourself, arise, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; the goblet, the cup of staggering, you have drunk, you have drained.

¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; and there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up.

¹⁹These two things have befallen you; who shall bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; by whom shall I comfort you?

²⁰Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear now this, O afflicted one, and drunken, but not with wine.

²²Thus says your Lord, the LORD, and your God who contends for his people, "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the goblet, the cup of my fury, you shall no longer drink it again.

²³And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who said to your soul, 'Bow down that we may pass over'; and you laid your back like the ground, and like the street for those who pass over."

Deliverance for Jerusalem

^52:1Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your garments of beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for no more shall there come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.

²Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem; loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

³For thus says the LORD, "For nothing you were sold, and not with money shall you be redeemed."

⁴For thus says the Lord GOD, "To Egypt my people went down at first to sojourn there; and Assyria oppressed them without cause."

⁵And now, what have I here, says the LORD, seeing my people is taken for nothing? Those who rule over them howl, says the LORD, and continually all the day my name is blasphemed.

⁶Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that I am he who speaks: behold, here am I.

⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace, who brings good tidings of good, who proclaims salvation (Yeshuah), who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

⁸The voice of your watchmen! They lift up the voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they shall see, when the LORD returns to Zion.

⁹Break forth, sing together, O waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has bared his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation (Yeshuah) of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from her midst, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.

¹²For not in haste shall you go out, nor by flight shall you go; for the LORD goes before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

AActs 3:17–26Chapter page with footnotes →

^3:17And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers also did. ¹⁸But the things which God announced beforehand through the mouth of all His prophets, that the Messiah would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ¹⁹Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, so that appointed times of refreshing may come from the face of the Lord, ²⁰and that He may send Yeshua Messiah, who has been appointed for you,

²¹whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things that God spoke through the mouth of all His holy prophets from of old. ²²Moses said to the fathers: 'The Lord our God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers; you shall listen to Him in everything He says to you. ²³And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from the people.'

²⁴And all the prophets from Samuel and those who came after, as many as have spoken, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' ²⁶God, having raised up His servant Yeshua, sent Him to you first, to bless you by turning each one of you from your wickedness."