Numbers 34

Boundaries of the Land

Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries. ³ The southern portion of your country will extend from the wilderness of Zin, along the edge of Edom. The southern boundary will begin on the east at the Dead Sea. ⁴ It will then run south past Scorpion Pass in the direction of Zin. Its southernmost point will be Kadesh-barnea, from which it will go to Hazar-addar, and on to Azmon. ⁵ From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶ “Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁷ “Your northern boundary will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and run east to Mount Hor, ⁸ then to Lebo-hamath, and on through Zedad ⁹ and Ziphron to Hazar-enan. This will be your northern boundary.

¹⁰ “The eastern boundary will start at Hazar-enan and run south to Shepham, ¹¹ then down to Riblah on the east side of Ain. From there the boundary will run down along the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee, ¹² and then along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. These are the boundaries of your land.”

¹³ Then Moses told the Israelites, “This territory is the homeland you are to divide among yourselves by sacred lot. The Lord has commanded that the land be divided among the nine and a half remaining tribes. ¹⁴ The families of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received their grants of land ¹⁵ on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho toward the sunrise.”

Leaders to Divide the Land

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun are the men designated to divide the grants of land among the people. ¹⁸ Enlist one leader from each tribe to help them with the task. ¹⁹ These are the tribes and the names of the leaders:

Tribe Leader Judah      Caleb son of Jephunneh

²⁰ Simeon      Shemuel son of Ammihud

²¹ Benjamin      Elidad son of Kislon

²² Dan      Bukki son of Jogli

²³ Manasseh son of Joseph      Hanniel son of Ephod

²⁴ Ephraim son of Joseph      Kemuel son of Shiphtan

²⁵ Zebulun      Elizaphan son of Parnach

²⁶ Issachar      Paltiel son of Azzan

²⁷ Asher      Ahihud son of Shelomi

²⁸ Naphtali      Pedahel son of Ammihud

²⁹ These are the men the Lord has appointed to divide the grants of land in Canaan among the Israelites.”

Numbers 35

Towns for the Levites

While Israel was camped beside the Jordan on the plains of Moab across from Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, ² “Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites from their property certain towns to live in, along with the surrounding pasturelands. ³ These towns will be for the Levites to live in, and the surrounding lands will provide pasture for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock. ⁴ The pastureland assigned to the Levites around these towns will extend 1,500 feet from the town walls in every direction. ⁵ Measure off 3,000 feet outside the town walls in every direction—east, south, west, north—with the town at the center. This area will serve as the larger pastureland for the towns.

⁶ “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety. In addition, give them forty-two other towns. ⁷ In all, forty-eight towns with the surrounding pastureland will be given to the Levites. ⁸ These towns will come from the property of the people of Israel. The larger tribes will give more towns to the Levites, while the smaller tribes will give fewer. Each tribe will give property in proportion to the size of its land.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.

“When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally. ¹² These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community. ¹³ Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves, ¹⁴ three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan. ¹⁵ These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.

¹⁶ “But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed. ¹⁷ Or if someone with a stone in his hand strikes and kills another person, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden object, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁹ The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death. ²⁰ So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder. ²¹ Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.

²² “But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person, ²³ or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies. ²⁴ If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim’s nearest relative: ²⁵ The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.

²⁶ “But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge, ²⁷ and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder. ²⁸ The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property. ²⁹ These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.

³⁰ “All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. ³¹ Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death. ³² And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest. ³³ This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder. ³⁴ You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel.”

Numbers 36

Women Who Inherit Property

Then the heads of the clans of Gilead—descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph—came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition. ² They said, “Sir, the Lord instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the Lord to give the grant of land owned by our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced. ⁴ Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their portion of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe.”

⁵ So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate. ⁶ This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe. ⁷ None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted. ⁸ The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. ⁹ No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”

¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side. ¹² They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.

¹³ These are the commands and regulations that the Lord gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

Mark 15

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

Very early in the morning the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law—the entire high council—met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

² Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

³ Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes, ⁴ and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” ⁵ But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.

⁶ Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested. ⁷ One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising. ⁸ The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

⁹ “Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked. ¹⁰ (For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.) ¹¹ But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. ¹² Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³ They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴ “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶ The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. ¹⁷ They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. ¹⁸ Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. ²⁰ When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

²¹ A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) ²² And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). ²³ They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

²⁴ Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. ²⁵ It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷ Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁹ The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. ³⁰ Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

³¹ The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

The Death of Jesus

³³ At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. ³⁴ Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

³⁵ Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. ³⁶ One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

³⁷ Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

³⁹ When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰ Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. ⁴¹ They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there.

The Burial of Jesus

⁴² This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) ⁴⁴ Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. ⁴⁵ The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. ⁴⁶ Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. ⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.