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Day 59: Deuteronomy 19–22 · Luke 10 · Psalm 6 · Commentary · Commentary² · Audio
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
Deuteronomy 19
When Jehovah your God cuts off the nations whose land Jehovah your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and live in their cities and houses, you are to set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land that Jehovah your God is giving you to possess. You are to prepare the roads and divide the territory of your land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance into three parts, so that any killer may flee there.
This is the case of the killer who may flee there and live: someone who strikes his neighbor without intent and did not hate him previously—such as when someone goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron slips from the wood and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. Otherwise the avenger of blood, with his heart burning, may pursue the killer and overtake him because the distance is long, and strike him down fatally, though he was not deserving of death, since he did not hate him previously. Therefore I am commanding you: set apart three cities for yourselves.
If Jehovah your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors—if you carefully keep all this commandment that I am commanding you today, to love Jehovah your God and to walk in his ways all your days—then you are to add three more cities for yourselves besides these three. This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, and bloodguilt will not be on you.
But if someone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city are to send and take him from there and give him into the hand of the avenger of blood so that he dies. Your eye is not to pity him; you are to remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well for you.
You are not to move your neighbor’s boundary marker that the former people set, in your inheritance that you will inherit in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you to possess.
A single witness is not to rise up against a person for any guilt or for any sin—any sin that he commits. On the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter is to be established. If a malicious witness rises up against a person to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both people who have the dispute are to stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges serving in those days. The judges are to investigate carefully, and if the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother, then you are to do to him just as he intended to do to his brother. So you are to remove the evil from your midst.
The rest will hear and fear, and they will not again do this evil thing among you. Your eye is not to pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Deuteronomy 20
When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you are not to fear them, because Jehovah your God is with you—the one who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
When you draw near to battle, the priest is to step forward and speak to the people. He is to say to them: Hear, Israel—you are drawing near today to battle against your enemies. Your heart is not to become weak. Do not fear, do not panic, and do not tremble before them. For Jehovah your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
The officers are to speak to the people, saying: Who is the person who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another person dedicates it. Who is the person who has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use it? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another person begins to use it. Who is the person who has become pledged to a woman and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another person takes her.
The officers are to continue speaking to the people: Who is the person who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not cause the heart of his brothers to melt like his heart.
When the officers finish speaking to the people, they are to appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.
When you draw near to a city to fight against it, you are to call out to it with an offer of peace. If it answers you with peace and opens to you, then all the people found in it are to become subject to forced labor and serve you. But if it does not make peace with you and instead makes war with you, then you are to besiege it. When Jehovah your God gives it into your hand, you are to strike every male in it with the edge of the sword.
Only the women, the children, the livestock, and everything in the city—all its spoil—you may take for yourselves, and you may use the spoil of your enemies that Jehovah your God has given you.
This is how you are to deal with all the cities very far from you, which are not among the cities of these nations here. But in the cities of these peoples that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, you are not to let anything that breathes remain alive. Instead, you are to completely destroy them—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—just as Jehovah your God has commanded you. This is so that they do not teach you to act according to all their detestable practices that they have done for their gods, and so that you do not sin against Jehovah your God.
When you besiege a city for many days, fighting against it in order to capture it, you are not to destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them, because you may eat from them and you are not to cut them down. For is the tree of the field a human, that it should be besieged by you? Only the tree that you know is not a tree for food—you may destroy and cut it down, so that you build siegeworks against the city making war with you, until it falls.
Deuteronomy 21
When someone is found slain in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who struck him down, your elders and your judges are to go out and measure the distance to the surrounding cities. The elders of the city nearest to the slain person are to take a young cow that has not been worked and has not pulled in a yoke. They are to bring the young cow down to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and they are to break the neck of the young cow there in the valley.
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come forward, because Jehovah your God has chosen them to serve him and to bless in the name of Jehovah, and by their word every dispute and every assault is to be settled. All the elders of the city nearest to the slain person are to wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken in the valley. They are to declare: Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see it done. Provide atonement for your people Israel, whom you redeemed, Jehovah, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood among your people Israel. Then the bloodguilt will be forgiven them. In this way you are to remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you are to do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.
When you go out to battle against your enemies and Jehovah your God gives them into your hand and you take captives, and you see among them a woman beautiful in appearance and you desire her and take her as a wife, then you are to bring her into your house. She is to shave her head and trim her nails. She is to remove the clothing of her captivity and remain in your house, and she is to mourn her father and her mother for a full month. After that you may go to her and be her husband, and she will become your wife. But if you are not pleased with her, then you are to let her go wherever she wishes. You are not to sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.
If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both bear sons to him, and the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife, then on the day he assigns his inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn ahead of the true firstborn, the son of the unloved wife. Instead, he is to recognize the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all he has, because he is the first sign of his strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not listen to the voice of his father or mother, and though they discipline him he still does not listen, then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city at the gate. They are to say to the elders: This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not listen to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones so that he dies. So you are to remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear and fear.
If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body is not to remain all night on the tree. Instead, you are to bury him the same day, because anyone who is hung is under a curse of God. You are not to defile your land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 22
You are not to see your brother’s ox or sheep wandering and ignore them; you are to return them to your brother. If your brother is not near you or you do not know him, then you are to bring the animal into your house, and it is to remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you are to return it to him. You are to do the same with his donkey, his garment, and any lost thing of your brother that you find; you are not allowed to ignore it.
You are not to see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore them; you are to help him lift them up again.
A woman is not to wear the equipment of a man, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, because everyone who does these things is detestable to Jehovah your God.
If you come upon a bird’s nest along the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young birds or eggs and the mother sitting on them, you are not to take the mother along with the young. You are to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourselves, so that it may go well for you and you may prolong your days.
When you build a new house, you are to make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.
You are not to sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or the entire yield—the seed you sow and the produce of the vineyard—will be forfeited. You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together. You are not to wear cloth made of wool and linen together.
You are to make tassels for yourselves on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourselves.
If a man takes a wife and goes to her and then turns against her, accusing her of shameful conduct and bringing a bad name upon her, saying, I took this woman, but when I went near her I did not find evidence of virginity, then the father of the young woman and her mother are to take and bring the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. The father of the young woman is to say to the elders: I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he has turned against her. Now he accuses her of shameful conduct, saying, I did not find evidence of virginity in your daughter. But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity. And they are to spread the garment before the elders of the city.
The elders of that city are to take the man and discipline him, and they are to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. She is to remain his wife; he is not allowed to divorce her for all his days.
But if the accusation is true and evidence of virginity is not found in the young woman, then they are to bring her out to the entrance of her father’s house, and the men of her city are to stone her with stones so that she dies, because she committed an outrageous act in Israel by acting as a prostitute in her father’s house. So you are to remove the evil from your midst.
If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both are to die—the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you are to remove the evil from Israel.
If there is a young woman who is a virgin and pledged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you are to bring both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them with stones so that they die—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you are to remove the evil from your midst.
But if in the open country a man finds a pledged young woman and seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her is to die. You are not to do anything to the young woman; she has not committed a sin deserving death, because this case is like when a man rises against his neighbor and murders him—this is that kind of case. He found her in the open country, and though the pledged young woman cried out, there was no one to save her.
If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin and not pledged, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, then the man who lay with her is to give the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she is to become his wife, because he violated her. He is not allowed to divorce her for all his days.
A man is not to take his father’s wife, and he is not to uncover the garment of his father.
Luke 10
After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Go—look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not carry a money bag, a travel bag, or sandals, and do not greet anyone along the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the worker is worthy of their wages. Do not move from house to house.
“Whatever town you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick there and say, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Still, know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the powerful works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum—will you be lifted up to heaven? You will go down to Hades.
“The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He said to them, “I was watching the accuser fall from heaven like lightning. Look, I have given you authority to step on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you. But do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you. Instead, rejoice that your names have been written in heaven.”
At that time he rejoiced in the holy spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to children. Yes, Father, because this was pleasing in your sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Then he turned to the disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.”
A legal expert stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
He answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
But he, wanting to justify himself, said, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. By chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also came and, when he saw him, passed by on the other side.
“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. He went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I return.’
“Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed mercy to him.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
As they went on their way, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Psalm 6
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
and do not discipline me in your wrath.
Show me favor, Lord, for I am weak;
heal me, Lord,
for my bones shake.
My whole being is deeply troubled—
and you, Lord—how long?
Turn back, Lord; rescue my life;
save me because of your steadfast care.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in the grave, who gives thanks to you?
I am worn out from my groaning;
all night I flood my bed with tears;
I soak my couch with my weeping.
My eye grows dim from grief;
it grows weak because of all my enemies.
Turn away from me, all you who do wrong,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
Let all my enemies be ashamed and deeply troubled;
let them turn back
and be put to shame suddenly.
Commentary - Day 59
Deuteronomy 19–22 · Luke 10 · Psalm 6
Cities of refuge are set apart within the land, and the roads leading to them are prepared in advance. Distance is measured before violence occurs, and territory is divided so that flight remains possible. The man whose axe head slips in the forest runs along a path already made ready, while the avenger follows with a burning heart. The difference between hatred and accident is tested not in haste but within a place marked beforehand. When the land grows larger, more cities are added, extending the same pattern across the widened borders.
Boundary stones are fixed in the ground where earlier generations placed them. They stand as quiet markers of inheritance, resisting movement even when land changes hands. Witnesses stand in a similar way—two or three voices forming the line that cannot be crossed by accusation alone. When false testimony is uncovered, the intention returns upon the one who spoke it, reversing the path he intended for another.
Before battle begins, the priest speaks to the people, and the officers follow with questions that release some from the field. A newly built house, an unharvested vineyard, a promised wife, and a fearful heart each send a man back along the road he came. The army that remains is shaped not only by strength but by removal. Even the trees around a besieged city are named and distinguished—fruit-bearing trees remain standing, while others become material for siegeworks.
When a slain person is found in the field and no striker is known, elders measure outward from the body to the nearest city. A valley with running water receives the unworked heifer, and hands are washed above the place where its neck is broken. The declaration spoken there does not point to a known killer but to a shared responsibility to remove bloodguilt from the land.
Captives brought into a house are given time to mourn, their former clothing removed before marriage occurs. Inheritance rights follow the firstborn even when affection leans elsewhere, and rebellion within a household is brought outward to the gate where judgment occurs. Bodies hung on trees are taken down before nightfall, returning to the ground so that the land is not defiled.
Lost animals wandering along the road are gathered and returned rather than ignored. Fallen beasts are lifted from the ground, and nests found along the way are approached with restraint—young birds may be taken, but the mother is released. Roofs receive parapets, tassels hang from garment corners, and the mother bird is released while the young are taken.
Accusations between husband and wife are carried to the elders at the gate, where garments are spread out as evidence. Where wrongdoing is confirmed, the gate again becomes the place where removal occurs. In open country, cries unheard bring judgment upon the aggressor alone, while silence in the city carries different consequences. Each setting—city or field—alters the response that follows.
Seventy-two are sent ahead in pairs along roads leading to towns where he himself intends to go. They carry no money bag and no spare sandals, entering houses that receive them and leaving dust where they are refused. Peace spoken at the threshold either rests within the house or returns to the speaker. Their movement traces a line through villages before his arrival.
Cities that witness powerful works yet remain unchanged are named aloud—Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum—standing beside Tyre and Sidon as comparisons are spoken. Rejection does not halt the message; it remains attached to the places where it was heard.
When the seventy-two return, joy rises from their report, yet their attention is redirected from power over spirits to names written in heaven. Authority appears beneath their feet as snakes and scorpions are named, but the focus shifts toward what has already been recorded.
A question about inheritance draws attention back to what is written in the law. A road from Jerusalem to Jericho becomes the setting for the answer. The priest crosses to the far side, the Levite does the same, and the Samaritan stops beside the wounded man. Oil and wine are poured into wounds, the injured man is lifted onto an animal, and payment is left with the innkeeper before departure.
Inside a house, Martha moves about with many tasks while Mary sits at his feet and listens to his word. Words are spoken that distinguish between the many concerns that fill the room and the single portion that remains when other things are set aside.
The psalm begins with trembling bones and a bed soaked with tears. Nights stretch with groaning, and eyes grow dim under grief. Yet the sound of weeping is answered, and the speaker turns outward, addressing those who do wrong. The movement runs from weakness to heard prayer, from shaking to the expectation that enemies will turn back.
Roads lead to cities of refuge, elders sit at the gates, houses receive travelers, and bodies are found in the fields. Roads are measured before flight begins, boundary stones are set before disputes arise, and parapets are built before anyone walks the roof.
Cities of refuge are prepared with measured roads so that flight remains possible before blood is shed. Boundary stones stay fixed, witnesses stand in pairs, and soldiers are released from battle for houses, vineyards, promises, or fear. Valleys receive unworked heifers where bloodguilt is unknown, parapets rise before rooftops are walked, and garments are spread at gates to settle accusation.
Along the roads of Luke 10, pairs enter houses, peace rests or returns, dust is shaken from feet, and a wounded man lies between travelers who pass or stop. Oil and wine are poured, payment is left, and a sister sits while another moves about. In the psalm, a bed fills with tears until the sound of weeping is heard. Across the readings, places are prepared before actions unfold, and what happens within them reveals what had already been set in place.
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