Now in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,

During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zachariah in the  ¹wilderness.

And he came into all the region surrounding the Jordan, proclaiming a  ¹baptism of repentance  ²for forgiveness of sins,

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,  ¹"A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths.

Every  ¹ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be leveled; and the crooked places shall become a straight way, and the rough ways smooth.

And all  ¹flesh shall see the  ²salvation of God.”

He said therefore to the crowds going out to be baptized by him,  ¹Offspring of vipers, who prompted you to flee from the coming wrath?

Produce then fruits worthy of your repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you that God is able out of these stones to  ¹raise up children to Abraham.

And already also the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the  ¹fire.

And the crowds asked him, saying, What then shall we do?

And he answered and said to them, He who has two  ¹tunics, let him share with the one who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.

And tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?

And he said to them, Exact nothing more than what you have been ordered to.

And some serving in the military also questioned him, saying, And we, what shall we do? And he said to them, Extort nothing from anyone by force, nor  ¹take anything by false accusation, and be content with your wages.

Now while the people were in  ¹expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might possibly be the Christ,

John answered and said to all, I  ¹baptize you in water, but He who is stronger than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire,

Whose winnowing fan is in His hand to thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable  ¹fire.

So, exhorting them with many other things also, he  ¹announced the gospel to the people.

But Herod the tetrarch, because he was reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother's wife, and concerning all the evil things which Herod did,

Added this also above all: he shut John up in prison.

Now when all the people were baptized and as Jesus was  ¹baptized and was praying, heaven was opened,

And the  ¹Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove upon Him. And a voice came out of heaven: You are My Son, the Beloved; in You I have found My delight.

You shall not sacrifice to Jehovah your God any ox or sheep in which there is a blemish, anything seriously wrong, for that is an abomination to Jehovah your God.

If there is found in your midst, within any of your gates which Jehovah your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of Jehovah your God by transgressing His covenant,

And has gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, that is, to the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded you to do;

And it is told to you and you hear of it; then you shall investigate thoroughly. And if indeed the thing is true and certain — this abomination has been done in Israel —

Then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing, to your gates, that very man or woman, and you shall stone them with stones so that they die.

At the word of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he who is to die be put to death; he shall not be put to death at the word of only one witness.

The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. Thus you shall utterly remove the evil from your midst.

If a case is too complicated for you to judge between one kind of homicide and another, or between one kind of civil suit and another, or between one kind of assault and another, being disputed cases within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which Jehovah your God will choose;

And you shall come to  ¹the Levitical priests and to the judge who is presiding in those days and investigate the matter; and they shall declare to you the sentence of judgment.

And you shall do according to the word of the sentence that they declare to you from that place which Jehovah will choose; and you shall be certain to do according to all that they instruct you.

You shall do according to the word of the instruction with which they instruct you and according to the judgment which they speak to you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left from the sentence that they declare to you.

And the man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Jehovah your God, or to the judge, that man shall die. Thus you shall utterly remove the evil from Israel.

And all the people will hear and will fear, and they will not act presumptuously anymore.

When you enter the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and you say, I will set a  ¹king over me like all the nations which surround me;

You must set a king over you whom Jehovah your God will choose; from among your brothers you shall set a king over you; you may not put a foreigner, who is not your brother, over you.

However, he shall not amass  ¹horses to himself, and he shall not turn the people back to Egypt so that he may amass horses, since Jehovah has said to you, You shall never again return that way.

And he shall not amass wives to himself, so that his heart does not turn aside; nor shall he amass silver and gold to himself in great amounts.

And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write out for himself a copy of this  ¹law in a book, out of that which is before the Levitical priests.

And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, in order that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them,

So that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left; that he and his sons may extend their days over their kingdom in the midst of Israel.

The  ¹Levitical priests and the whole  ¹tribe of Levi shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat Jehovah's offerings by fire and His  ²inheritance.

Thus they shall have no inheritance in the midst of their brothers;  ¹Jehovah is their inheritance, as He has promised them.

And this shall be the  ¹priests' rightful due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: They shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach.

You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your fresh oil, and the first shearing of your sheep;

For Jehovah your God has chosen him and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in Jehovah's name always.

And if a  ¹Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he sojourns, and comes according to all his soul's desire to the place which Jehovah will choose,

He shall minister in the name of Jehovah his God, like all his brothers, the Levites, who stand there before Jehovah.

They shall eat equal portions, besides the  ¹proceeds from the sale of his father's estate.

When you enter the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, you shall not learn to do things according to the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through fire; anyone who performs divination, practices soothsaying, or interprets omens; or anyone who employs sorcery

Or casts spells; or anyone who consults a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit or inquires of the dead;

For everyone who does these things is an abomination to Jehovah; and on account of these abominations Jehovah your God is dispossessing them from before you.

You shall be blameless toward Jehovah your God.

For these nations whom you are dispossessing listen to those who practice soothsaying and to those who perform divination, but Jehovah your God has not allowed you to do so.

A  ¹Prophet will Jehovah your God raise up for you from your midst, from among your brothers, like me; you shall listen to Him.

This is according to all that you asked of Jehovah your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear any more of the voice of Jehovah my God, and let me not see this great fire any longer, lest I die.

And Jehovah said to me, They have done well in what they have spoken.

A Prophet will I  ¹raise up for them from the midst of their brothers like you; and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them all that I command Him.

And the man who will not listen to My words which He will speak in My name, I Myself will require it from him.

But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name, which I did not command him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?

When a prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the thing does not happen nor come about, that is the thing which Jehovah has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

When Jehovah your God cuts off the nations whose land Jehovah your God is giving you and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

You shall set apart three  ¹cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Jehovah your God is giving you to possess.

You shall survey the distances for yourself and divide into three parts the territory of your land, which Jehovah your God will give you as an inheritance, so that every manslayer may flee there.

And this shall be the case of the manslayer who flees there and lives: He who slays his neighbor without intent and did not hate him previously —

As when a man goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and his hand goes to cut the tree with an axe, and the iron axehead slips off the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies — he shall flee to one of these cities and live;

Lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart rages, and he overtake him because the distance is long and  ¹slay him; though he is not worthy of death, for he did not hate him previously.

Therefore I am commanding you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for yourself.

And if Jehovah your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers;

If you are certain to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, to love Jehovah your God and to walk in His ways always; then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three,

That innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of your land, which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, and guilt for blood be upon you.

But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and he rises up against him and slays him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities;

Then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, so that he may die.

Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you.

You shall not move your neighbor's  ¹boundary marker, which your ancestors have set, in your inheritance, which you will inherit in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you to possess.

One witness only shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin which he has committed; at the word of two witnesses or at the word of three witnesses shall a matter be established.

If a malicious witness rises up against a man to testify against him of wrongdoing,

The two men who have the dispute shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges who are serving in those days.

And the judges shall investigate thoroughly; and if indeed the witness is a false witness, if he has testified falsely against his brother,

You shall do to him as he intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall utterly remove the evil from your midst.

And those who remain will hear and will fear and will never again do anything like this evil thing in your midst.

And your eye shall not pity: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.