Study Desk

The priests, the Levites, [and] the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: Jehovah's offerings by fire, and his inheritance shall they eat,

for Jehovah thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, that he may stand to serve in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons continually.

And if the Levite shall come from one of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and shall come according to all the desire of his soul unto the place which Jehovah will choose,

and shall serve in the name of Jehovah his God, as all his brethren the Levites that stand there before Jehovah,

—they shall have like portions to eat, besides that which he hath sold of his patrimony.

There shall not be found among you he that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, that useth divination, that useth auguries, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

A prophet will I raise up unto them from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

And this is the case of the slayer who shall flee thither that he may live: he that smiteth his neighbour unwittingly, whom he hated not previously;

as when he goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron slippeth from the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; such an one shall flee unto one of these cities, and live;

lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, since he hated him not previously.

(if thou keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk in his ways continually), then shalt thou add three cities more for thyself to these three,

But if a man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and he flee into one of these cities,

then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

and the judges shall make thorough inquiry; and if the witness be a false witness, and he have testified falsely against his brother,

then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not eaten of it? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.

And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.

And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and shall say, What man is there that is timid and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as well as his heart.

then it shall be, in the day that he maketh his sons to inherit what he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;