Deuteronomy 19

• 1. When the LORD your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,
• 2. then set aside for yourselves three cities centrally located in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
• 3. Build roads to them and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that anyone who kills a man may flee there.
• 4. This is the rule concerning the man who kills another and flees there to save his life-one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought.
• 5. For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life.
• 6. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought.
• 7. This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.
• 8. If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, and gives you the whole land he promised them,
• 9. because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today-to love the LORD your God and to walk always in his ways-then you are to set aside three more cities.
• 10. Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
• 11. But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
• 12. the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.
• 13. Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.
• 14. Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
• 15. One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
• 16. If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime,
• 17. the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.
• 18. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother,
• 19. then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you.
• 20. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.
• 21. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Psalms 106

• 1. Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
• 2. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise?
• 3. Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.
• 4. Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them,
• 5. that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.
• 6. We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
• 7. When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.
• 8. Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known.
• 9. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert.
• 10. He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
• 11. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.
• 12. Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.
• 13. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.
• 14. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test.
• 15. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.
• 16. In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD.
• 17. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram.
• 18. Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
• 19. At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
• 20. They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
• 21. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,
• 22. miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
• 23. So he said he would destroy them- had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.
• 24. Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise.
• 25. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD.
• 26. So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert,
• 27. make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
• 28. They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
• 29. they provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
• 30. But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked.
• 31. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
• 32. By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them;
• 33. for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips.
• 34. They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them,
• 35. but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
• 36. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.
• 37. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
• 38. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.
• 39. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
• 40. Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance.
• 41. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them.
• 42. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.
• 43. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.
• 44. But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry;
• 45. for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.
• 46. He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive.
• 47. Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
• 48. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the LORD.

Isaiah 46

• 1. Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary.
• 2. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.
• 3. "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth.
• 4. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
• 5. "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?
• 6. Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.
• 7. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.
• 8. "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
• 9. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
• 10. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
• 11. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
• 12. Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.
• 13. I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.

New International Version

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