Study Desk

"The tribe of Levi will not get any share of land in Israel. The priests come from that tribe and they will eat the special sacrifices that are offered as gifts to the Lord . That is the share for the people from the tribe of Levi.

"When you kill one of your sheep or cattle for a sacrifice, you must give the priests these parts: the shoulder, both cheeks, and the stomach.

"The Lord said to me, ‘What they ask for is good.

This prophet will speak for me, and I will punish anyone who refuses to listen to my commands.'

"But a prophet might say something that I did not tell him to say. And he might tell people that he is speaking for me. If this happens, that prophet must be killed. Also a prophet might come that speaks for other gods. That prophet must also be killed.

If a prophet says he is speaking for the Lord , but what he says does not happen, you will know that the Lord did not say it. You will know that this prophet was speaking his own ideas. You don't need to be afraid of him.

"This is the rule for someone who kills another person and runs to one of these three cities for safety: It must be someone who killed another person accidentally, not out of hatred.

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.

Don't feel sorry for him. He is guilty of killing an innocent person, and you must remove that guilt from Israel. Then everything will go well for you.

"Don't feel sorry about punishing someone who does wrong. If a life is taken, a life must be paid for it. The rule is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot—the punishment must equal the crime.

If they accept your offer and open their gates, all the people in that city will become your slaves and be forced to work for you.

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.

"When you are making war against a city, you might surround that city for a long time. You must not cut down the fruit trees around that city. You may eat the fruit from these trees, but you must not cut them down. These trees are not the enemy, so don't make war against them.

But you may cut down the trees that you know are not fruit trees. You may use these trees to build weapons for making war against that city. You may use them until the city falls.

When you learn which town is nearest to the dead body, the leaders of that town must take a cow from their herds. It must be a cow that never had a calf and that has never been used for work.

Lord , you saved your people Israel. Now make us pure. Don't blame us for killing an innocent person.' In this way these men will not be blamed for killing an innocent person.

She must change her clothes and take off the clothes she was wearing when she was captured in war. She will stay in your house and be sad about losing her father and her mother for a full month. After that you may go to her to be her husband, and she will be your wife.

"A man might have two wives. He might love one wife more than the other. Both wives might have children for him, but the firstborn son might be from the wife he does not love.

If the owner does not live near you or if you don't know who it belongs to, take the ox or sheep to your house. Keep it there until the owner comes looking for it; then give it back.