Study Desk

"You will force the other nations out of your land. They listen to people who use magic and try to tell the future. But the Lord your God will not let you do these things.

The Lord your God will send to you a prophet. This prophet will come from among your own people, and he will be like me. You must listen to him.

God will send you this prophet because that is what you asked him to do. When you were gathered together at Mount Horeb, you became frightened and said, ‘Don't let us hear the voice of the Lord our God again! Don't let us see that great fire or we will die!'

"The Lord your God is giving you land that belongs to other nations. The Lord your God will destroy those nations. You will live where these people lived. You will take their cities and their houses. When that happens,

you must divide the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Divide it into three parts and choose a city in the middle of each part that can be a place of safety. You must also build good roads to these cities. Then whoever kills another person may run to the closest city of safety.

"The Lord your God promised your fathers that he would make your land larger. He will give you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors.

He will do this if you completely obey his commands that I give you today—if you love the Lord your God and always live the way he wants. Then, when he gives you more land, you should choose three more cities for safety. They should be added to the first three cities.

Then innocent people will not be killed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And you will not be guilty for any such deaths.

"You must not move the stones that mark your neighbor's property. People put them there in the past to mark each person's property. These stones mark the land that the Lord your God gave you.

"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horses, chariots, and many more people than you have, you must not be afraid of them. The Lord your God is with you—and he brought you out of Egypt.

The Lord your God is going with you to help you fight against your enemies. He will help you win!'

And when the Lord your God lets you take the city, you must kill all the men in it.

But you may take for yourselves the women, the children, the cattle, and everything else in the city. You may use all these things. The Lord your God has given these things to you.

"But when you take cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must kill everyone.

You must completely destroy all the people—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this.

So then they will not be able to teach you to sin against the Lord your God or to do any of the terrible things they do when they worship their gods.

"In the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you might find a dead body in a field, but no one knows who killed that person.

The priests, the descendants of Levi, must also go there. (The Lord your God has chosen these priests to serve him and to bless people in the name of the Lord . The priests will decide who is right in every lawsuit and whenever someone is hurt.)

"You might fight against your enemies, and the Lord your God might let you defeat them and take them as captives.

You must not let that body stay on the tree overnight. You must be sure to bury this man on the same day, because the one who hangs on a tree is cursed by God, and you must not let the land that the Lord your God is giving you become unclean.