Love Casts Out Fear, Justice Requires Witnesses

1. You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a defect, or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 2. If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight, in transgressing his covenant, 3. and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded; 4. and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel, 5. then you shall bring out that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, even that same man or woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones. 6. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7. The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 8. If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. 9. You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. 10. You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you: 11. according to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12. The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel. 13. All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. 14. When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and possess it, and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me”; 15. you shall surely set him king over yourselves, whom Yahweh your God chooses. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.” 17. He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18. It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites. 19. It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; 20. that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn away from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the middle of Israel. 1. The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion. 2. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 3. This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. 4. The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5. For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons for ever. 6. If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose; 7. then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh. 8. They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions. 9. When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. 10. There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, 11. or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. 13. You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God. 14. For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do. 15. Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. 16. This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.” 17. Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. 18. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19. It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20. But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” 21. You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?” 22. When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him. 1. When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you succeed them and dwell in their cities and in their houses; 2. you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it. 3. You shall prepare the way, and divide the borders of your land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit into three parts, that every man slayer may flee there. 4. This is the case of the man slayer who shall flee there and live. Whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and didn’t hate him in time past; 5. as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood and his hand swings the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. 6. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the man slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally; even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him in time past. 7. Therefore I command you to set apart three cities for yourselves. 8. If Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers; 9. if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, besides these three. 10. This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you. 11. But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities; 12. then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you. 14. You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess. 15. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. 16. If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17. then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; 18. and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; 19. then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 20. Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and will never again commit any such evil among you. 21. Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 1. When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2. It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, 3. and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them; 4. for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” 5. 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. What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit. 7. What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.” 8. The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart.” 9. It shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people. 10. When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. 11. It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become forced laborers to you, and shall serve you. 12. If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13. When Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword; 14. but the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its plunder, you shall take for plunder for yourself. You may use the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. 15. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. 16. But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; 17. but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has commanded you; 18. that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God. 19. When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you? 20. Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. You shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

1. Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3. and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5. They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6. We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. 8. He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9. By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. 13. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16. We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17. In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. 18. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19. We love him, because he first loved us. 20. If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21. This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. 1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. 2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. 3. For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. 4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. 5. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6. This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7. For there are three who testify: 8. the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. 10. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11. The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life. 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 14. This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. 16. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don’t say that he should make a request concerning this. 17. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18. We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him. 19. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20. We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

1. Hear my prayer, Yahweh! Let my cry come to you. 2. Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call. 3. For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch. 4. My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread. 5. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin. 6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places. 7. I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop. 8. My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse. 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears, 10. Because of your indignation and your wrath, for you have taken me up, and thrown me away. 11. My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass. 12. But you, Yahweh, will remain forever; your renown endures to all generations. 13. You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come. 14. For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust. 15. So the nations will fear Yahweh’s name; all the kings of the earth your glory. 16. For Yahweh has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory. 17. He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. 18. This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise Yah. 19. For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth; 20. to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death; 21. that men may declare Yahweh’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; 22. when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh. 23. He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days. 24. I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations. 25. Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands. 26. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed. 27. But you are the same. Your years will have no end. 28. The children of your servants will continue. Their offspring will be established before you.”