Numbers 36:1-13 and Acts 7:17-34 (New Living Translation)

NUMBERS 36:1-13
WOMEN WHO INHERIT PROPERTY

1    Then the heads of the clans of Gilead—descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph—came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition. 

2    They said, “Sir, the Lord instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the Lord to give the grant of land owned by our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 

3    But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced. 

4    Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their portion of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe.”

5    So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate. 

6    This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe.

7    None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted. 

8    The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. 

9    No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”

10  The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. 

11  Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side. 

12  They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.

13  These are the commands and regulations that the Lord gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

ACTS 7:7-34

STEPHEN'S SPEECH (continued)

17  “As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.
18  But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.
19  This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.
20  “At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months.
21  When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son.
22  Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.
23  “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.
24  He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.
25  Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.
26  “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’
27  “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked.
28  ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’
29  When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.
30  “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.
31  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,
32  'I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.
33  “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.
34  I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’

Numbers 35:22-34 and Acts 7:1-16 (New Living Translation)

NUMBERS 35:22-34
THE CITIES OF REFUGE (continued)
22  “But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person,
23  or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies.
24  If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim’s nearest relative:
25  The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.
26  “But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge,
27  and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder.
28  The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property.
29  These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.
30  “All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
31  Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death.
32  And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest.
33  This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.
34  You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel.”

ACTS 7:1-16
STEPHEN'S SPEECH

1    Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these accusations true?”

2    This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.

3    God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’

4    So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live.

5     “But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet.

6    God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 

7    'But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’

8    “God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation.

9    “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 

10  and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.

11  “But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food.

12  Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some. 

13  The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers,  and they were introduced to Pharaoh. 

14  Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all.

15  So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors. 

16  Their bodies were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price from Hamor’s sons in Shechem.

Numbers 35:9-21 and Acts 6:8-15 (New Living Translation)

NUMBERS 35:9-21
THE CITIES OF REFUGE

9    The Lord said to Moses, 

10  “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.  “When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 

11  designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally. 

12  These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community. 

13  Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves, 

14  three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan. 

15  These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.

16  “But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed. 

17  Or if someone with a stone in his hand strikes and kills another person, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death.   

18  Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden object, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. 

19  The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death. 

20  So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder. 

21  Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.

ACTS 6:8-15

THE ARREST OF STEPHEN

8    Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 

9    But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 

10  None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.

11  So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” 

12  This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.

13  The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. 

14  We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

15  At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.