Joshua 20

The Cities of Refuge

¹Then the Lord said to Joshua, ²“Say to the people of Israel, j‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand kat the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. ⁶And he shall remain in that city luntil he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

⁷So they set apart mKedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and nShechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and oKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) pin the hill country of Judah. ⁸And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed qBezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and rRamoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and sGolan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and tfor the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

Joshua 21

Cities and Pasturelands Allotted to Levi

¹Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came uto Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ²And they said to them vat Shiloh in the land of Canaan, w“The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” ³So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest xreceived by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

⁵And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot yfrom the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶The zGershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

⁷The aMerarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel bgave by lot to the Levites, cas the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, ¹⁰which went to dthe descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first. ¹¹eThey gave them fKiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, gin the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it. ¹²But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, hthe city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, iLibnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes; ¹⁷then out of the tribe of Benjamin, jGibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

²⁰kAs to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹To them were given Shechem, lthe city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, ²²Kibzaim with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²³and out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, ²⁴Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²⁵and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. ²⁶The cities of the clans of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all with their pasturelands.

²⁷mAnd to the Gershonites, one of the clans of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, lthe city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities; ²⁸and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, ²⁹Jarmuth with its pasturelands, En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁰and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ³¹Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities; ³²and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, lthe city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities. ³³The cities of the several clans of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

³⁴nAnd to the rest of the Levites, the Merarite clans, were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, ³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁶and out of the tribe of Reuben, oBezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands, ³⁷Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities; ³⁸and out of the tribe of Gad, oRamoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, pMahanaim with its pasturelands, ³⁹pHeshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰As for the cities of the several Merarite clans, that is, the remainder of the clans of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities.

⁴¹qThe cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands. ⁴²These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities.

⁴³rThus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. ⁴⁴sAnd the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. tNot one of all their enemies had withstood them, for uthe Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. ⁴⁵vNot one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

¹In the first book, O aTheophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began bto do and teach, ²until the day when che was taken up, after he dhad given commands ethrough the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³fHe presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

⁴And while staying1 with them ghe ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵for hJohn baptized with water, hbut you will be baptized iwith2 the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, jwill you at this time krestore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, l“It is not for you to know mtimes or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive npower owhen the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and pyou will be qmy witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and rSamaria, and sto the end of the earth.” ⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, the was lifted up, and ua cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, vtwo wmen stood by them in xwhite robes, ¹¹and said, y“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, zwill acome in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

¹²Then bthey returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. ¹³And when they had entered, they went up to cthe upper room, where they were staying, dPeter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon ethe Zealot and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴All these fwith one accord gwere devoting themselves to prayer, together with hthe women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and ihis brothers.3

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among jthe brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, ¹⁶“Brothers, kthe Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, lwho became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷For mhe was numbered among us and was allotted his share in nthis ministry.” ¹⁸(Now this man oacquired a field with pthe reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong4 he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. ¹⁹And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called qin their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰“For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

r“‘May his camp become desolate,

and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

s“‘Let another take his office.’

²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during tall the time that the Lord Jesus uwent in and out among us, ²²vbeginning from the baptism of John until the day when whe was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us xa witness to his resurrection.” ²³And they put forward two, Joseph called yBarsabbas, who was also called zJustus, and aMatthias. ²⁴And bthey prayed and said, “You, Lord, cwho know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take the place in dthis ministry and eapostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Idols and the Living God

¹Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord:

“Learn not the way of the nations,

nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens

because the nations are dismayed at them,

³ffor the customs of the peoples are vanity.1

gA tree from the forest is cut down

and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

⁴hThey decorate it with silver and gold;

ithey fasten it with hammer and nails

so that it cannot move.

⁵Their idols2 are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,

and jthey cannot speak;

kthey have to be carried,

for they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them,

lfor they cannot do evil,

neither is it in them to do good.”

⁶mThere is none like you, O Lord;

you are great, and your name is great in might.

⁷nWho would not fear you, O King of the nations?

For this is your due;

for among all the wise ones of the nations

and in all their kingdoms

there is none like you.

⁸oThey are both pstupid and foolish;

the instruction of idols is but wood!

⁹qBeaten silver is brought from rTarshish,

and gold from sUphaz.

qThey are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;

their clothing is violet and purple;

tthey are all the work of skilled men.

¹⁰uBut the Lord is the true God;

vhe is the living God and the everlasting King.

At his wrath the earth quakes,

and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹¹Thus shall you say to them: w“The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth xshall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”3

¹²yIt is he who zmade the earth by his power,

zwho established the world by his wisdom,

and aby his understanding stretched out the heavens.

¹³bWhen he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

cand he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.

cHe makes lightning dfor the rain,

cand he brings forth the wind efrom his storehouses.

¹⁴fEvery man is stupid and without knowledge;

gevery goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,

for his images are false,

hand there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion;

at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

¹⁶Not like these is he who is ithe portion of Jacob,

for he is the one who formed all things,

jand Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;

kthe Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁷lGather up your bundle from the ground,

O you who dwell under siege!

¹⁸For thus says the Lord:

m“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land

at this time,

nand I will bring distress on them,

that they may feel it.”

¹⁹Woe is me because of my hurt!

oMy wound is grievous.

But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,

and I must bear it.”

²⁰pMy tent is destroyed,

and all my cords are broken;

my children have gone from me,

qand they are not;

there is no one to spread my tent again

and pto set up my curtains.

²¹rFor the shepherds sare stupid

and do not inquire of the Lord;

therefore they have not prospered,

tand all their flock is scattered.

²²A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—

ua great commotion out of the north country

to make vthe cities of Judah a desolation,

va lair of jackals.

²³wI know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,

that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

²⁴xCorrect me, O Lord, but in justice;

not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

²⁵yPour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,

and on the peoples that call not on your name,

zfor they have devoured Jacob;

they have devoured him and consumed him,

and have laid waste his habitation.

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

¹tJesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. ²But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, uthere will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Signs of the End of the Age

³As he sat on vthe Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him wprivately, saying, “Tell us, xwhen will these things be, and what will be the sign of your ycoming and of zthe end of the age?” ⁴And Jesus answered them, a“See that no one leads you astray. ⁵For bmany will come in my name, saying, ‘I am cthe Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ⁶And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you dare not alarmed, for this emust take place, but the end is not yet. ⁷For fnation will rise against nation, and gkingdom against kingdom, and there will be hfamines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are but the beginning of ithe birth pains.

⁹“Then jthey will deliver you up kto tribulation and lput you to death, and myou will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰And then many will fall away1 and nbetray one another and hate one another. ¹¹And many ofalse prophets will arise pand lead many astray. ¹²And because lawlessness will be increased, qthe love of many will grow cold. ¹³rBut the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom swill be proclaimed throughout the whole world tas a testimony uto all nations, and vthen the end will come.

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁵“So when you see the abomination of desolation wspoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in xthe holy place (ylet the reader understand), ¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷zLet the one who is on athe housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹And balas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be cgreat tribulation, dsuch as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for ethe sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³fThen if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴For gfalse christs and hfalse prophets will arise and iperform great signs and wonders, hso as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵See, jI have told you beforehand. ²⁶So, if they say to you, ‘Look, khe is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷lFor as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be mthe coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸nWherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹“Immediately after othe tribulation of those days pthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and qthe stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰Then rwill appear in heaven sthe sign of the Son of Man, and then tall the tribes of the earth will mourn, and uthey will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven vwith power and great glory. ³¹And whe will send out his angels with a loud xtrumpet call, and they will ygather zhis elect from athe four winds, bfrom one end of heaven to the other.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

³²“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, cat the very gates. ³⁴dTruly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵eHeaven and earth will pass away, but fmy words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day and Hour

³⁶“But concerning that day and hour gno one knows, not even the angels of heaven, hnor the Son,2 ibut the Father only. ³⁷jFor as were the days of Noah, kso will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸jFor as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, lmarrying and giving in marriage, until mthe day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, kso will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹nTwo women will be grinding oat the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴²Therefore, pstay awake, for you do not know on what day qyour Lord is coming. ⁴³rBut know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night sthe thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be tready, for uthe Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

⁴⁵“Who then is vthe faithful and wwise servant,3 whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶xBlessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷Truly, I say to you, yhe will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master zis delayed,’ ⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow servants4 and eats and drinks with adrunkards, ⁵⁰the master of that servant will come bon a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place cthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.