1 “When the Lord your God cuts off (destroys) the nations whose land He is giving you, and you dispossess them and live in their cities and in their houses, 2 you shall designate three cities for yourself in the central area of the land, which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall prepare and maintain for yourself the roads [to these cities], and divide the territory of your land into three parts, so that anyone who kills another unintentionally may escape there [for asylum].
4 “Now this is the case of the offender (manslayer) who may escape there and live [protected from vengeance]: when he kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him previously— 5 as [for example] when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, but the iron head slips off the wooden handle and hits his companion and he dies—the offender may escape to one of these cities and live; 6 otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the offender in the heat of anger, and overtake him, because it is a long way, and take his life, even though he did not deserve to die, since he did not hate his neighbor beforehand. 7 Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities [of refuge] for yourself.’
8 “If the Lord your God enlarges your border, as He has sworn to your fathers to do, and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers— 9 if you keep and carefully observe all these commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk [that is, to live each and every day] always in His ways—then you shall add three more cities [of refuge] for yourself, besides these three, 10 so that innocent blood will not be shed [by blood avengers] in your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and blood guilt will not be on you [for the death of an innocent man].
11 “But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait and ambush for him and attacks him and strikes him down so that he dies, and the assailant escapes to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his own city shall send for him and have him taken back from there and turn him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may be put to death. 13 You shall not pity him [the guilty one], but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
14 “You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the forefathers [who first divided the territory] have set, in the land which you will inherit in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
15 “A single witness shall not appear in a trial against a man for any wrong or any sin which he has committed; [only] on the testimony or evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be confirmed. 16 If a malicious witness rises up against a man to [falsely] accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office at that time. 18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness, and he has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 20 Those who remain will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 You shall not show pity [to the guilty one]: it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
1 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever!
2
Who can put into words the mighty deeds of the Lord?
Or who can proclaim all His praise [that is due Him]?
3
Blessed are those who observe justice [by honoring God’s precepts],
Who practice righteousness at all times.
4
Remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people.
Visit me with Your salvation [when You rescue them],
5
That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.
6
We have sinned like our fathers;
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.
7
Our fathers in Egypt did not understand nor appreciate Your miracles;
They did not remember the abundance of Your mercies nor imprint Your lovingkindnesses on their hearts,
But they were rebellious at the sea, at the Red Sea.
8
Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His [supreme] power known.
9
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
And He led them through the depths as through a pasture.
10
So He saved them from the hand of the one that hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy.
11
And the waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
12
Then Israel believed in [the validity of] His words;
They sang His praise.
13
But they quickly forgot His works;
They did not [patiently] wait for His counsel and purpose [to be revealed regarding them],
14
But lusted intensely in the wilderness
And tempted God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.
15
So He gave them their request,
But sent a wasting disease among them.
16
They envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron [the high priest], the holy one of the Lord,
17
Therefore the earth opened and swallowed Dathan,
And engulfed the company of Abiram.
18
And a fire broke out in their company;
The flame consumed the wicked.
19
They made a calf in Horeb (Sinai)
And worshiped a cast image.
20
Thus they exchanged [the true God who was] their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21
They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done such great things in Egypt,
22
Wonders in the land of Ham,
Awesome things at the Red Sea.
23
Therefore He said He would destroy them,
[And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the gap before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24
Then they despised the pleasant land [of Canaan];
They did not believe in His word nor rely on it,
25
But they sulked and complained in their tents;
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26
Therefore He lifted up His hand [swearing] to them,
That He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,
27
And that He would cast out their descendants among the nations
And scatter them in the lands [of the earth].
28
They joined themselves also to [the idol] Baal of Peor,
And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
29
Thus they provoked Him to anger with their practices,
And a plague broke out among them.
30
Then Phinehas [the priest] stood up and interceded,
And so the plague was halted.
31
And that was credited to him for righteousness,
To all generations forever.
32
They provoked Him to anger at the waters of Meribah,
So that it went hard with Moses on their account;
33
Because they were rebellious against His Spirit,
Moses spoke recklessly with his lips.
34
They did not destroy the [pagan] peoples [in Canaan],
As the Lord commanded them,
35
But they mingled with the [idolatrous] nations
And learned their ways,
36
And served their idols,
Which became a [dreadful] snare to them.
37
They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons
38
And shed innocent blood,
Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with their blood.
39
In this way they became unclean in their practices;
They played the prostitute in their own deeds [by giving their worship, which belongs to God alone, to other “gods”].
40
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people
And He detested His own inheritance.
41
He gave them into the hands of the nations,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42
Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were subdued under the [powerful] hand of their enemies.
43
Many times He rescued them;
But they were rebellious in their counsel,
And sank down in their wickedness.
44
Nevertheless He looked [sympathetically] at their distress
When He heard their cry;
45
And He remembered His covenant for their sake,
And relented [rescinding their sentence] according to the greatness of His lovingkindness [when they cried out to Him],
46
He also made them objects of compassion
Among those who had carried them away captive.
47
Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the nations,
That we may give thanks to Your holy name
And glory in praising You.
48
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.
And let all the people say, “Amen.”
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their idols are on the beasts [of burden] and on the cattle.
Your burdens [of idols] are loaded [on them],
Burdens on the weary animals.
2
They stooped over, they have bowed down together;
They could not rescue the burden [of their own idols],
But have themselves gone into captivity.
3
“Listen to Me,” [says the Lord], “O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been carried by Me from your birth
And have been carried [in My arms] from the womb,
4
Even to your old age I am He,
And even to your advanced old age I will carry you!
I have made you, and I will carry you;
Be assured I will carry you and I will save you.
5
“To whom would you liken Me
And make Me equal and compare Me,
That we may be alike?
6
“Those who lavish gold from the bag
And weigh out silver on the scales
Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
They bow down, indeed they worship it.
7
“They lift it on their shoulders [in religious processions or into battle] and carry it;
They set it in its place and there it remains standing.
It cannot move from its place.
Even if one cries to it [for help], the idol cannot answer;
It cannot save him from his distress.
8
“Remember this, and take courage;
Take it to heart, you rebellious and disloyal people.
9
“Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past;
For I am God, and there is no one else;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10
Declaring the end and the result from the beginning,
And from ancient times the things which have not [yet] been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will do all that pleases Me and fulfills My purpose,’
11
Calling a bird of prey from the east,
From a far country, the man (Cyrus) of My purpose.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, be assured I will do it.
12
“Listen to Me, you stiff-necked people,
You who are far from righteousness (right standing with God).
13
“I bring near My righteousness [in the salvation of Israel], it is not far away;
And My salvation will not delay.
And I will grant salvation in Zion,
And My glory for Israel.
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath and indignation of God.”
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and loathsome and malignant sores came on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a corpse [foul and disgusting]; and every living thing in the sea died.
4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water; and they turned into blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous and just are You, Who are and Who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they have poured out the blood of the saints (God’s people) and the prophets, and You [in turn] have given them blood to drink. They deserve Your judgment.” 7 And I heard [another from] the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all], Your judgments are true and fair and righteous.”
8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch humanity with [raging] fire. 9 People were [severely] burned by the great heat; and they reviled the name of God who has power over these plagues, but they did not repent [of their sin] and glorify Him.
10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness; and people gnawed their tongues because of the pain [of their excruciating anguish and severe torment], 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their anguish and their sores (abscesses, boils); and they did not repent of what they had done nor hate their wickedness.
12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for [the coming of] the kings from the east.
13 And I saw three loathsome spirits like frogs, leaping from the mouth of the dragon (Satan) and from the mouth of the beast (Antichrist, dictator) and from the mouth of the false prophet; 14 for they are [actually] the spirits of demons, performing [miraculous] signs. And they go out to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and who keeps his clothes [that is, stays spiritually ready for the Lord’s return], so that he will not be naked—spiritually unprepared—and men will not see his shame.”) 16 And they (demons) gathered the kings and armies of the world together at the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon (Armageddon).
17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne [of God], saying, “It is done. [It is all over, it is all accomplished, it has come.]” 18 And there were flashes of lightning and loud rumblings and peals of thunder; and there was a massive earthquake—nothing like it has ever occurred since mankind originated on the earth, so severe and far-reaching was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And God kept in mind Babylon the great, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce and furious wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and no mountains could be found. 21 And giant hailstones, as heavy as a talent, fell from the sky on the people; and people reviled and spoke abusively of God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so very great.