1 The priests and the Levites, and all who are from the same tribe, shall have no portion or inheritance with the rest of Israel. For they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord and his oblations.
2 And they shall receive nothing else from the possession of their brothers. For the Lord himself is their inheritance, just as he said to them.
3 This shall be the recompense for the priests from the people, and from those who offer victims, whether they will immolate an ox or a sheep. They shall give to the priest the shoulder and the breast,
4 the first-fruits of grain, wine, and oil, and a portion of the wool from the shearing of the sheep.
5 For the Lord your God himself has chosen him out of all your tribes, so that he may stand and minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons, forever.
6 If a Levite departs from one of the cities, throughout all of Israel, in which he lives, and if he wills and desires to go to the place which the Lord will choose,
7 he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as do all his brothers, the Levites, who will be standing at that time in the sight of the Lord.
8 He shall receive the same portion of food as the rest also receive, besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his fathers.
9 When you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, be careful that you are not willing to imitate the abominations of those nations.
10 Do not let there be found among you one who would purify his son or daughter by leading them through fire, nor one who consults seers, nor one who observes dreams or omens. Do not let there be found among you one who practices the occult,
11 nor one who uses spells, nor one who consults demonic spirits, nor a diviner, nor one who seeks the truth from the dead.
12 For the Lord abominates all these things. And, because of these wicked ways, he will destroy them at your arrival.
13 You shall be perfect and without blemish with the Lord your God.
14 These nations, whose land you shall possess, they listen to soothsayers and diviners. But you have been otherwise instructed by the Lord your God.
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a PROPHET from your nation and from your brothers, similar to me. You shall listen to him,
16 just as you petitioned of the Lord your God at Horeb, when the assembly was gathered together, and you said: ‘Let me no longer hear the voice of the Lord my God, and let me no longer see this very great fire, lest I die.’
17 And the Lord said to me: ‘They have spoken all these things well.
18 I will raise up a prophet for them, from the midst of their brothers, similar to you. And I will place my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all the things that I will instruct him.
19 But against anyone who is not willing to listen to his words, which he will speak in my name, I will stand forth as the avenger.
20 But if a prophet, having been corrupted by arrogance, chooses to speak, in my name, things which I did not instruct him to say, or to speak in the name of foreign gods, he shall be put to death.
21 But if, in silent thought, you respond: “How will I be able to recognize a word which the Lord has not spoken?”
22 you shall have this sign. If whatever that prophet predicts in the name of the Lord does not happen, then the Lord has not spoken it. Instead, the prophet has formed it through the swelling of his own mind. And for this reason, you shall not fear him.’ “
1 When the Lord your God will have destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to you, and when you possess it and live in its cities and buildings,
2 you shall separate for yourselves three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give to you as a possession,
3 paving the road carefully. And you shall divide the entire province of your land equally into three parts, so that he who is forced to flee because of manslaughter may have a place nearby to which he may be able to escape.
4 This shall be the law of the killer who flees, whose life is to be saved. Whoever strikes down his neighbor unwillingly, and who has been proven to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before,
5 such that he had gone with him into the forest simply to cut wood, and in cutting down the tree, the axe slipped from his hand, or the iron slipped from the handle, and it struck his friend and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities stated above, and he shall live.
6 Otherwise, perhaps the near relative of him whose blood was shed, impelled by his grief, might pursue and apprehend him, unless the way is too long, and he might strike down the life of him who is not guilty unto death, since he had demonstrated that he had no prior hatred against him who was slain.
7 For this reason, I instruct you to separate three cities at equal distance from one another.
8 And when the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he swore to your fathers, and when he will have given to you all the land that he has promised to them,
9 (but this is only so if you will keep his commandments and do the things which I instruct to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in his ways at all times) you shall add for yourselves three other cities, and so you shall double the number of the three cities stated above.
10 So may innocent blood not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord your God will give you to possess, lest you be guilty of blood.
11 But if anyone, having hatred for his neighbor, will have lain in ambush for his life, and, rising up, will have struck him, and he will have died, and if he will have fled to one of the cities stated above,
12 the elders of his city shall send, and they shall take him from the place of refuge, and they shall deliver him into the hand of the relative of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.
13 You shall not take pity on him, and so shall you take away the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may be well with you.
14 You shall not take up or move the landmark of your neighbor, which those before you have placed, in your possession that the Lord your God will give to you, in the land you will receive to possess.
15 One witness shall not stand against another, no matter what the sin or outrage may be. For every word shall stand by the mouth of two or three witnesses.
16 If a lying witness will have stood against a man, accusing him of a transgression,
17 both of those whose case it is shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.
18 And when, after a very diligent examination, they will have found that the false witness had told a lie against his brother,
19 they shall render to him just as he intended to do to his brother. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.
20 Then the others, upon hearing this, will be afraid, and they will by no means dare to do such things.
21 You shall not take pity on him. Instead, you shall require a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.”
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1 Then Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, the son of Pashhur, and Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying:
2 Thus says the Lord: Whoever will remain in this city will die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. But whoever will flee away from the Chaldeans, will live, and his soul will dwell in safety.
3 Thus says the Lord: This city will certainly be delivered into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.”
4 And the leaders said to the king: “We petition you to put this man to death. For he is deliberately weakening the hands of the men of war, who have remained in this city, and the hands of the people, by speaking to them with these words. For this man is certainly not seeking peace for this people, but evil.”
5 And king Zedekiah said: “Behold, he is in your hands. For it is not fitting for the king to deny you anything.”
6 Therefore, they took Jeremiah and cast him into the pit of Malchiah, the son of Amelech, which was at the entrance to the prison. And they lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the pit, in which there was no water, but only mud. And so Jeremiah descended into the mire.
7 Now Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had sent Jeremiah into the pit, and also that the king was sitting at the gate of Benjamin.
8 And so Ebedmelech departed from the king’s house, and he spoke to the king, saying:
9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have perpetrated against Jeremiah the prophet, casting him into the pit so that he would die there from famine. For there is no more bread in the city.
10 And so the king instructed Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian, saying: “Take with you thirty men from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet from the pit, before he dies.”
11 Therefore, Ebedmelech, taking the men with him, entered into the king’s house to a place below the storehouse. And he took from there old garments, no longer in use, and he sent them down by rope to Jeremiah in the pit.
12 And Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian, said to Jeremiah: “Place these old garments, and these cut and decaying cloths, under your arms and over the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.
13 And they pulled up Jeremiah with the ropes, and they led him away from the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the vestibule of the prison.
14 And king Zedekiah sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him at the third gate, which was at the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah: “I will question you about a matter. You shall conceal nothing from me.”
15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: “If I announce to you, will you not put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”
16 Then king Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah, secretly, saying: “As the Lord lives, who made this soul for us, I will not kill you, nor will I deliver you into the hands of those men who are seeking your life.”
11 I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field.
12 If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High.
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.
12 Then he also said to the one who had invited him: “When you prepare a lunch or dinner, do not choose to call your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they might then invite you in return and repayment would made to you.
13 But when you prepare a feast, call the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind.
14 And you will be blessed because they do not have a way to repay you. So then, your recompense will be in the resurrection of the just.”
15 When someone sitting at table with him had heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.”
16 So he said to him: “A certain man prepared a great feast, and he invited many.
17 And he sent his servant, at the hour of the feast, to tell the invited to come; for now everything was ready.
18 And at once they all began to make excuses. The first said to him: ‘I bought a farm, and I need to go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’
19 And another said: ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them. I ask you to excuse me.’
20 And another said, ‘I have taken a wife, and therefore I am not able to go.’
21 And returning, the servant reported these things to his lord. Then the father of the family, becoming angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and neighborhoods of the city. And lead here the poor, and the disabled, and the blind, and the lame.’
22 And the servant said: ‘It has been done, just as you ordered, lord, and there is still room.’
23 And the lord said to the servant: ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel them to enter, so that my house may be filled.
24 For I tell you, that none of those men who were invited will taste of my feast.’ “
25 Now great crowds traveled with him. And turning around, he said to them:
26 If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and yes, even his own life, he is not able to be my disciple.
27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me, is not able to be my disciple.
28 For who among you, wanting to build a tower, would not first sit down and determine the costs that are required, to see if he has the means to complete it?
29 Otherwise, after he will have laid the foundation and not been able to finish it, everyone who sees it may begin to mock him,
30 saying: ‘This man began to build what he was not able to finish.’
31 Or, what king, advancing to engage in war against another king, would not first sit down and consider whether he may be able, with ten thousand, to meet one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 If not, then while the other is still far away, sending a delegation, he would ask him for terms of peace.
33 Therefore, everyone of you who does not renounce all that he possesses is not able to be my disciple.
34 Salt is good. But if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be seasoned?
35 It is useful neither in soil, nor in manure, so instead, it shall be thrown away. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
