[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SATURDAY FEBRUARY 26

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SATURDAY FEBRUARY 26

DAILY BIBLE READING

Deuteronomy 19-21 New King James Version
Three Cities of Refuge
19 "When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your
God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in
their houses, 2 you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of
your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall
prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of
your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any
manslayer may flee there.

4 "And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live:
Whoever kills his neighbor [a]unintentionally, not having hated him in time
past- 5 as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and
his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head
slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies-he shall flee
to one of these cities and live; 6 lest the avenger of blood, while his
anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is
long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not
hated the victim in time past. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall
separate three cities for yourself.'

8 "Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your
fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, 9
and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you
today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you
shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, 10 lest
innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is
giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

11 "But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against
him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these
cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there,
and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall [b]put away the guilt of
innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries
14 "You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have
set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord
your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses
15 "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any
sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall
be established. 16 If a false witness rises against any man to testify
against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand
before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.
18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is
a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you
shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put
away the evil from among you. 20 And those who remain shall hear and fear,
and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 Your eye
shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand
for hand, foot for foot.

Principles Governing Warfare
20 "When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and
chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for
the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 2
So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall
approach and speak to the people. 3 And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O
Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let
your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified
because of them; 4 for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight
for you against your enemies, to save you.'

5 "Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: 'What man is there
who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to
his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Also
what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let
him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man
eat of it. 7 And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not
married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle
and another man marry her.'

8 "The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is
there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house,
[c]lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.' 9 And so it shall
be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall
make captains of the armies to lead the people.

10 "When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of
peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and
open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under
tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with
you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord
your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with
the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and
all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and
you shall eat the enemies' plunder which the Lord your God gives you. 15
Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are
not of the cities of these nations.

16 "But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as
an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you
shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite
and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God
has commanded you, 18 lest they teach you to do according to all their
[d]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the
Lord your God.

19 "When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to
take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if
you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree
of the field is man's food. 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees
for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city
that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder
21 "If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord
your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from
the slain man to the surrounding cities. 3 And it shall be that the elders
of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been
worked and which has not pulled with a yoke. 4 The elders of that city shall
bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither
plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God
has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; by
their word every controversy and every [e]assault shall be settled. 6 And
all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands
over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 7 Then they shall
answer and say, 'Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen
it. 8 Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have
redeemed, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people
Israel.' And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. 9 So
you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do
what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Female Captives
10 "When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God
delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, 11 and you see
among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for
your wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall
shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She shall put off the clothes of her
captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full
month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be
your wife. 14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall
set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not
treat her brutally, because you have humbled her.

Firstborn Inheritance Rights
15 "If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have
borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son
is of her who is unloved, 16 then it shall be, on the day he bequeaths his
possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son
of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true
firstborn. 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the
firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the
beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

The Rebellious Son
18 "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice
of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened
him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold
of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city.
20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is
stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a
drunkard.' 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with
stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall
hear and fear.

Miscellaneous Laws
22 "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death,
and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the
tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the
land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is
hanged is accursed of God.

Footnotes
Deuteronomy 19:4 ignorantly, lit. without knowledge
Deuteronomy 19:13 purge the blood of the innocent
Deuteronomy 20:8 So with MT, Tg.; Sam., LXX, Syr., Vg. lest he make his
brother's heart faint
Deuteronomy 20:18 detestable things
Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit. stroke