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Regulations Concerning Vows
30 [a]Later, Moses told the elders of the Israeli tribes, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 2 ‘When a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath—an obligation that is binding to himself—he is not to break his word. Instead, he is to fulfill whatever promise[b] came out of his mouth.’”
Vows by Unmarried Women
3 “When a young woman makes a vow to the Lord or pledges[c] herself[d] to an obligation while she still lives in her father’s house, 4 and her father hears her vow and the obligations that she had pledged[e] herself to fulfill, yet her father keeps silent about it, then all her vows and every obligation she pledged herself to are to stand. 5 But if her father disallows her on the same day that he hears what she has said, then all her vows and every obligation she had pledged herself to fulfill are not to stand. The Lord will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.”
Vows by Married Women
6 “If she has a husband and she makes a vow that is binding on herself, or if she makes a hasty vow with her mouth that she pledges herself[f] to fulfill, 7 and her husband hears her vow, yet remains silent on the day that he hears it, then her vows are to stand and the obligation to which she had pledged herself is to stand. 8 But if, on the same day her husband hears and disallows her, then he has revoked her vows that she made for herself, along with any hasty vows that she spoke and to which she pledged herself to fulfill. The Lord will forgive her.”
Vows by Widows or the Divorced
9 “Everything that a widow or a divorced woman pledges herself to fulfill are to be binding on her.[g] 10 If, while she had been living in her late or former[h] husband’s house, she makes a vow or a promise that binds her with an oath, 11 and her husband hears it but remains silent, not disallowing it, then all her vows are to stand, along with every obligation that she has pledged to fulfill. 12 But if her husband disallowed them the very day that he heard her, everything that she spoke relating to her vows and her obligation to herself are not to stand, because her husband revoked them. The Lord will forgive her. 13 Her husband may confirm[i] or revoke every vow and binding obligation that afflicts her. 14 But if her husband remains silent about her from day to day, then he has affirmed all her vows or obligations that she has obligated herself to fulfill.[j] He has affirmed them because he remained silent from the day he heard her vows.[k] 15 But if he nullified them after he had heard, then he will be responsible for any resulting iniquity.”
16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife and concerning a father and his young daughter while she still lives in her father’s house.
War against Midian
31 Later, the Lord told Moses, 2 “Be sure to exact vengeance on behalf of the Israelis from the Midianites, after which you’ll be taken home[l] to your people.”
3 So Moses instructed the people, “Muster your men of war to attack the Midianites and deliver the Lord’s vengeance against Midian. 4 Send 1,000 men to war from every tribe throughout all of Israel.” 5 So 1,000 men from every tribe—12,000 from the thousands of Israel—were mustered and equipped for war.
6 Moses sent 1,000 men from every tribe to fight against them, along with Eleazar’s son Phinehas, in whose hands were the articles of the sanctuary and trumpets to sound battle alarms. 7 They fought against the Midianites[m] just as the Lord had commanded Moses, killing every man. 8 They executed the five kings of Midian, including Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also executed Beor’s son Balaam with a sword. 9 After this, the Israelis took captive the Midianite women and children[n] and confiscated as spoils of war all their cattle, livestock, and their goods. 10 They burned every town where they had lived and incinerated all of their encampments. 11 They took all the booty and plunder, including both humans and animals. 12 Then they brought the captives, booty, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the entire community of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River in Jericho. 13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.
Commands Concerning War Captives
14 But Moses became livid with anger at the officers of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds who had returned from servicing in the battle. 15 “Did you keep all the women alive?” Moses asked them. 16 “Look! These women were the same ones who were counseled by Balaam to cause the Israelis to commit a grievous sin against the Lord at Peor. As a result, that plague infected the Lord’s community. 17 You are to kill every male child[o] and every woman who has had sexual relations with a man.[p] 18 You are to allow the young women who haven’t yet had sexual relations with a man[q] to live for yourselves.”
Purification after the Battle
19 “Now you are to stay outside the camp for seven days, after which any of you who has killed a person[r] or touched someone who was killed may purify yourselves on the third day. You and your captives will be pure on the seventh day. 20 Furthermore, you are to purify every garment—that is, everything made of leather, goat’s hair, or containing wood.”
21 Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses 22 concerning anything containing gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, lead, 23 or anything else that can survive a refiner’s fire: You are to pass it through fire, after which it will be clean. Then it is to be purified with the water of impurity. Everything that cannot survive a refiner’s fire is to be washed in water. 24 Wash your clothes on the seventh day, after which you will be clean. Then you may enter the camp.”
Offerings from War Booty
25 Then the Lord told Moses, 26 “Take an inventory of the booty that was taken in the battle,[s] both of humans and of animals. Then you, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the fathers of the community 27 are to divide the booty between the warriors who went to war and the rest of the community.
28 “After this, you are to exact a tribute for the Lord from the soldiers who went to war, consisting of the tribute earned by one person out of every 500, whether from people, cattle, donkeys, or flocks. 29 You are to take half their share and give it to Eleazar the priest as a raised offering to the Lord. 30 Then take half the share of the Israelis, one drawn out of every 50 people, cattle, donkeys, flocks, and from every animal, then give to the descendants of Levi who maintain the service of the Lord’s tent.”
31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did what the Lord had commanded Moses. 32 The goods confiscated in excess of the war implements[t] that the warriors had gathered included 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, and 35 32,000 women who had not had sexual relations with a man.
God’s Portion of the War Booty
36 Now half of the share of those who went to war numbered 337,500 sheep, 37 so the Lord’s tribute from the sheep totaled 675. 38 The cattle numbered 36,000, so the Lord’s tribute totaled 72. 39 The donkeys numbered 30,500, so the Lord’s tribute totaled 61. 40 The people[u] numbered 16,000, so the Lord’s tribute totaled 32 people. 41 Then Moses gave the tribute, a raised offering to the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 42 From half of the share of the Israelis that Moses had set aside from the soldiers, 43 there were 337,500 sheep for the community, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 people.
47 Moses took a portion drawn from every 50 Israelis, including from both human and animals, and gave them to the descendants of Levi who maintained the Lord’s tent, just as the Lord had commanded him.[v] 48 Then the officers in charge of thousands of soldiers, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds approached Moses 49 and told him,[w] “Your servants took a count of the soldiers who were under our authority. We didn’t miss a single man. 50 We’ve brought offerings to the Lord from whatever each man found—jewel-encrusted gold, anklets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves[x] in the Lord’s presence.”
51 Then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them and everything that was fashioned into jewels. 52 The gold for the raised offering that they brought to the Lord totaled 16,750 shekels, 53 because every soldier had confiscated war booty for his own use. 54 Moses and Eleazar took the gold from the captains of thousands and hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, to serve as a memorial to the Israelis in the Lord’s presence.
Jesus is Tempted by Satan(A)
4 Then Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where he was being tempted by the Devil for 40 days. During that time he ate nothing at all, and when they were over he became hungry.
3 The Devil told him, “Since[a] you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘One must not live on bread alone,
but on every word of God.’”[b]
5 The Devil[c] also took him to a high place[d] and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. 6 He told Jesus,[e] “I will give you all this authority, along with their glory, because it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 So if you will worship me, all this will be yours.”
8 But Jesus answered him, “It is written,
9 The Devil[h] also took him into Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the Temple. He told Jesus,[i] “Since[j] you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 because it is written,
‘God[k] will put his angels in charge of you
to watch over you carefully.
11 With their hands they will hold you up,
so that you will never hit your foot against a rock.’”[l]
12 Jesus answered him, “It has been said, ‘You must not tempt the Lord[m] your God.’”[n]
13 After the Devil had finished tempting Jesus in every possible way, he left him until another time.
Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee(B)
14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee by the power of the Spirit. Meanwhile, the news about him spread throughout the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was continuously receiving praise from everyone.
Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth(C)
16 Then Jesus[o] came to Nazareth, where he had been raised. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. When he stood up to read, 17 the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord[p] is upon me;
he has anointed me to tell
the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set oppressed people free,
19 and to announce the year of the Lord’s[q] favor.”[r]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. While the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him, 21 he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled, as you’ve heard it read aloud.”[s]
22 All the people began to speak well of him and to wonder at the gracious words that flowed from his mouth. They said, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?”
23 So he told them, “You will probably quote this proverb to me, ‘Doctor, heal yourself! Do everything here in your hometown that we hear you did in Capernaum.’”
24 He added, “I tell all of you[t] with certainty, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. 25 I’m telling you the truth—there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain[u] for three years and six months and there was a severe famine everywhere in the land. 26 Yet Elijah wasn’t sent to a single one of those widows except to one at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the prophet Elisha’s time, yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue became furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, forced Jesus[v] out of the city, and led him to the edge of the hill on which their city was built, intending to throw him off. 30 But he walked right through the middle of them and went away.
A Davidic Psalm, while he was in the Judean wilderness.
Joyful Trust in God
63 God, you are my God!
I will fervently seek you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my flesh longs for you in a dry, weary, and parched land.
2 So I have looked for you in the sanctuary,
to behold your power and glory.
3 Because your gracious love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in your name.
5 Just as I am satisfied with the choicest of foods,[a]
so my lips will praise you joyfully.
6 When I think of you in bed,
I will meditate on you in the night watches.
7 For you have been my strength,
and in the shadow of your wings I will shout for joy.
8 My soul clings to you,
even as your right hand supports me.
9 But as for those who seek to destroy me,
they will go down to the depths of the earth;
10 May they be given over to the power of[b] the sword;
may they become carrion for jackals.
11 But as for the king,
he will rejoice in God.
Indeed, everyone who swears by God[c] will exult,
because the mouths of liars will be silenced.
20 Devious minds are abhorrent to the Lord,
but those whose ways are innocent are his delight.
21 Be sure of this:[a] the wicked will not go unpunished,
but the descendants of the righteous will go free.
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