Shoftim, שֹׁפְטִים

Passages

Torah: Deuteronomy 20:10 - 21:9
Gospel: Acts 12:1 - 12:18

Torah — Deuteronomy 20:10 - 21:9

20:10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you must offer it peace.

20:11 And then if they accept your terms of peace and they surrender to you, and then all the people inhabiting it shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you.

20:12 But if they do not accept your terms of peace and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.

20:13 And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge of the sword.

20:14 Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you.

20:15 Thus you shall do to all the far cities from you, which are not from the cities of these nations located nearby.

20:16 But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.

20:17 Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as Yahweh your God has commanded you,

20:18 so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.

20:19 “If you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them, for you may eat from them, and so you must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege against you?

20:20 Only the trees that you know are not fruit trees you may destroy and you may cut down, and you may build siege works against that city that is making war with you until it falls.”

21:1 “If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it and is lying in the field, and it is not known who killed him,

21:2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one.

21:3 And then the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with in the field, that has not pulled a yoke,

21:4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi that flows with water all year and that has not been plowed and has not been sown; then there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi.

21:5 Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every case of assault will be subject to their ruling.

21:6 And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer with the broken neck in the wadi.

21:7 And they shall declare, and they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done.

21:8 Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and do not allow the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven with regard to blood.’

21:9 And so you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.

20:10 Suppose you march up to attack a city. Before you attack it, offer peace to its people.

20:11 Suppose they accept your offer and open their gates. Then force all of the people in the city to be your slaves. They will have to work for you.

20:12 But suppose they refuse your offer of peace and prepare for battle. Then surround that city. Get ready to attack it.

20:13 The Lord your God will hand it over to you. When he does, kill all of the men with your swords.

20:14 But you can take the women and children for yourselves. You can also take the livestock and everything else in the city. What you have captured from your enemies you can use for yourselves. The Lord your God has given it to you.

20:15 That’s how you must treat all of the cities that are far away from you. Those cities don’t belong to the nations that are nearby.

20:16 But what about the cities the Lord your God is giving you as your own? Kill everything in those cities that breathes.

20:17 Completely destroy them. Wipe out the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. That’s what the Lord your God commanded you to do.

20:18 If you don’t destroy them, they’ll teach you to follow all of the things the Lord hates. He hates the way they worship their gods. If you do those things, you will sin against the Lord your God.

20:19 Suppose you surround a city and get ready to attack it. And suppose you fight against it for a long time in order to capture it. Then don’t chop its trees down and destroy them. You can eat their fruit. So don’t cut them down. The trees of the field aren’t people. So why should you attack them?

20:20 But you can cut down trees that you know aren’t fruit trees. You can build war machines out of their wood. You can use them until you capture the city you are fighting against.

21:1 What to Do When You Don’t Know Who Killed Someone Suppose you find someone who has been killed. The body is lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to take as your own. But no one knows who the killer was.

21:2 Then your elders and judges will go out and measure how far it is from the body to the nearby towns.

21:3 The elders from the town that is nearest to the body will get a young cow. It must never have been used for work. It must never have pulled a load.

21:4 The elders must lead it down into a valley. The valley must not have been farmed. There must be a stream flowing through it. There in the valley the elders must break the cow’s neck.

21:5 The priests, who are sons of Levi, will step forward. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him. He wants them to bless the people in his name. He wants them to decide all cases that have to do with people arguing and attacking others.

21:6 Then all of the elders from the town that is nearest to the body will wash their hands. They will wash them over the young cow whose neck they broke in the valley.

21:7 They’ll say to the Lord, “We didn’t kill that person. We didn’t see it happen.

21:8 Accept this payment for the sin of your people Israel. Lord, you have set your people free. Don’t hold them guilty for spilling the blood of someone who hasn’t done anything wrong.” That will pay for the death of that person.

21:9 So you will get rid of the guilt of killing someone who didn’t do anything wrong. That’s because you have done what is right in the Lord’s eyes.

Gospel — Acts 12:1 - 12:18

12:1 Herod Kills James and Imprisons Peter Now at that time, Herod the king laid hands on some of those from the church to harm them.

12:2 So he executed James the brother of John with a sword.

12:3 And when he saw that it was pleasing to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (Now this was during the feast of Unleavened Bread.)

12:4 After he had arrested him, he also put him in prison, handing him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

12:5 Thus Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer was fervently being made to God by the church for him.

12:6 Peter Rescued by an Angel Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door were watching the prison.

12:7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood near him, and a light shone in the prison cell. And striking Peter’s side, he woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly!” And his chains fell off of his hands.

12:8 And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals!” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me!”

12:9 And he went out and was following him. And he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but was thinking he was seeing a vision.

12:10 And after they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened for them by itself, and they went out and went forward along one narrow street, and at once the angel departed from him.

12:11 And when Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know truly that the Lord has sent out his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and all that the Jewish people expected!”

12:12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John (who is also called Mark), where many people were gathered together and were praying.

12:13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a female slave named Rhoda came up to answer.

12:14 And recognizing Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate.

12:15 But they said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting it was so. And they kept saying, “It is his angel!”

12:16 But Peter was continuing to knock, and when they opened the door they saw him and were astonished.

12:17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he related to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and to the brothers,” and he departed and went to another place.

12:18 Now when day came, there was not a little commotion among the soldiers as to what then had become of Peter.

12:1 An Angel Helps Peter Escape From Prison About this time, King Herod arrested some people who belonged to the church. He planned to make them suffer greatly.

12:2 He had James killed with a sword. James was John’s brother.

12:3 Herod saw that the death of James pleased the Jews. So he arrested Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

12:4 After Herod arrested Peter, he put him in prison. Peter was placed under guard. He was watched by four groups of four soldiers each. Herod planned to put Peter on public trial. It would take place after the Passover Feast.

12:5 So Peter was kept in prison. But the church prayed hard to God for him.

12:6 It was the night before Herod was going to bring him to trial. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. Two chains held him there. Lookouts stood guard at the entrance.

12:7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared. A light shone in the prison cell. The angel struck Peter on his side. Peter woke up. “Quick!” the angel said. “Get up!” The chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

12:8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” Peter did so. “Put on your coat,” the angel told him. “Follow me.”

12:9 Peter followed him out of the prison. But he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision.

12:10 They passed the first and second guards. Then they came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself. They went through it. They walked the length of one street. Suddenly the angel left Peter.

12:11 Then Peter realized what had happened. He said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel. He set me free from Herod’s power. He saved me from everything the Jewish people were hoping for.”

12:12 When Peter understood what had happened, he went to Mary’s house. Mary was the mother of John Mark. Many people had gathered in her home. They were praying there.

12:13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance. A servant named Rhoda came to answer the door.

12:14 She recognized Peter’s voice. She was so excited that she ran back without opening the door. “Peter is at the door!” she exclaimed.

12:15 “You’re out of your mind,” they said to her. But she kept telling them it was true. So they said, “It must be his angel.”

12:16 Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

12:17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet. He explained how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the others about this,” he said. Then he went to another place.

12:18 In the morning the soldiers were bewildered. They couldn’t figure out what had happened to Peter.

Passages

Torah — Deuteronomy 20:10 - 21:9

LEB translation

NIRV translation

Gospel — Acts 12:1 - 12:18

LEB translation

NIRV translation