The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday April 2, 2018 (NIV)

Atonement for Unsolved Murders

21 “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, ² then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. ³ And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer ^(A)that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. ⁴ And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. ⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen ^(B)them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and ^(C)by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. ⁶ And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man ^(D)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. ⁸ Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and ^(E)do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ ⁹ So ^(F)you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Marrying Female Captives

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, ¹² and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. ¹³ And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and ^(G)lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ But if you no longer delight in her, you shall ^(H)let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you ^(I)treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.

Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, ^(J)the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,^{[a] 16} then on the day when ^(K)he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, ¹⁷ but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is ^(L)the firstfruits of his strength. ^(M)The right of the firstborn is his.

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, ²⁰ and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ^21 (N)Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. ^(O)So you shall purge the evil from your midst, ^(P)and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

²² “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ^23 (Q)his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for ^(R)a hanged man is cursed by God. ^(S)You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Various Laws

22 “You ^(T)shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. ² And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. ³ And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. ^4 (U)You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.

⁵ “A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, ^(V)for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶ “If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(W)you shall not take the mother with the young. ⁷ You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, ^(X)that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

^9 (Y)“You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited,^[b] the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. ¹⁰ You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹ You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.

^12 (Z)“You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.

Laws Concerning Sexual Immorality

¹³ “If any man takes a wife and ^(AA)goes in to her and then hates her ¹⁴ and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ ¹⁵ then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. ¹⁶ And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; ¹⁷ and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip^[c] him, ¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels^[d] of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin^[e] of Israel. And she shall be his wife. ^(AB)He may not divorce her all his days. ²⁰ But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, ²¹ then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and ^(AC)the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has ^(AD)done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. ^(AE)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

^22 (AF)“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. ^(AG)So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

²³ “If there is a ^(AH)betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴ then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. ^(AI)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

²⁵ “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. ²⁶ But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, ²⁷ because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

^28 (AJ)“If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, ²⁹ then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days.

^{30 [f] (AK)}“A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not ^(AL)uncover his father's nakedness.^[g]

A Samaritan Village Rejects Jesus

⁵¹ When the days drew near for ^(A)him to be taken up, ^(B)he set his face ^(C)to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And ^(D)he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of ^(E)the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. ⁵³ But ^(F)the people did not receive him, because ^(G)his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell ^(H)fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”^{[a] 55} But he turned and rebuked them.^{[b] 56} And they went on to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

⁵⁷ As they were going ^(I)along the road, ^(J)someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus^[c] said to him, “Leave ^(K)the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and ^(L)proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, ^(M)but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, ^(N)“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed ^(O)seventy-two^[d] others and ^(P)sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ^2 (Q)And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^(R)Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; ^(S)behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ^4 (T)Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and ^(U)greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ^(V)‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, ^(W)it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(X)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ^(Y)‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ^11 (Z)‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that ^(AA)the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, ^(AB)it will be more bearable on ^(AC)that day for Sodom than for that town.

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)Asaph.