Deuteronomy 4-23

Darby Translation

4 And now, Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers giveth you.

² Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.

³ Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Baal-Peor; for all the men that followed Baal-Peor, Jehovah thy God hath destroyed them from among you;

⁴ but ye that did cleave to Jehovah your God are alive every one of you this day.

⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that ye may do so in the land into which ye enter to possess it.

⁶ And ye shall keep and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Verily this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

⁷ For what great nation is there that hath God near to them as Jehovah our God is in everything we call upon him for?

⁸ And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances, as all this law which I set before you this day?

⁹ Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things that thine eyes have seen (and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but thou shalt make them known to thy sons and to thy sons' sons),

¹⁰ the day that thou stoodest before Jehovah thy God in Horeb, when Jehovah said to me, Gather me the people together, that I may cause them to hear my words, that they may learn them, and fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and teach them to their children.

¹¹ And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and obscurity.

¹² And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but ye saw no form; only [ye heard] a voice.

¹³ And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.

¹⁴ And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye are passing over to possess it.

¹⁵ And take great heed to your souls (for ye saw no form on the day that Jehovah spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire),

¹⁶ lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the form of any figure, the pattern of male or female,

¹⁷ the pattern of any beast that is on the earth, the pattern of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven,

¹⁸ the pattern of anything that creepeth on the ground, the pattern of any fish that is in the waters under the earth;

¹⁹ and lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, the whole host of heaven, and be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath assigned unto all peoples under the whole heaven.

²⁰ But you hath Jehovah taken, and hath brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, that ye might be to him a people of inheritance, as it is this day.

²¹ And Jehovah was angry with me on your account, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not enter in to that good land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance;

²² for I shall die in this land, I shall not go over the Jordan; but ye shall go over, and possess this good land.

²³ Take heed to yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a graven image, the form of anything which Jehovah thy God hath forbidden thee.

²⁴ For Jehovah thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

²⁵ When thou begettest sons, and sons' sons, and ye have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to anger,

²⁶ I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye pass over the Jordan to possess it: ye shall not prolong your days on it, but shall be utterly destroyed.

²⁷ And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left a small company among the nations to which Jehovah will lead you.

²⁸ And ye shall there serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

²⁹ And from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, if thou shalt seek him with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul.

³⁰ In thy tribulation, and when all these things shall come upon thee, at the end of days, thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and shalt hearken to his voice,

³¹ —for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God,—he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore unto them.

³² For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there hath been anything as this great thing is, or if anything hath been heard like it?

³³ Did [ever] people hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

³⁴ Or hath God essayed to come to take him a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

³⁵ Unto thee it was shewn, that thou mightest know that Jehovah, he is God—there is none other besides him.

³⁶ From the heavens he made thee hear his voice, that he might instruct thee; and on the earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words from the midst of the fire.

³⁷ And because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them, he brought thee out with his countenance, with his great power, out of Egypt,

³⁸ to dispossess nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

³⁹ Thou shalt know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that Jehovah, he is God in the heavens above, and on the earth beneath: [there is] none else.

⁴⁰ And thou shalt keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee and with thy sons after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days on the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, for ever.

⁴¹ Then Moses separated three cities on this side the Jordan toward the sun-rising,

⁴² that the manslayer might flee thither, who should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not previously, that fleeing to one of these cities, he might live:

⁴³ Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau, of the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

⁴⁴ And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

⁴⁵ these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances that Moses declared to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,

⁴⁶ on this side the Jordan, in the valley opposite to Beth-Peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote when they came out of Egypt;

⁴⁷ and they took possession of his land, and the land of Og the king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side the Jordan, toward the sun-rising;

⁴⁸ from Aroer, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, as far as mount Sion, which is Hermon,

⁴⁹ and all the plain on this side the Jordan, eastward, and as far as the sea of the plain, under the slopes of Pisgah.

5 And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances that I speak in your ears this day, and learn them, and keep them to do them.

² Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

³ Not with our fathers did Jehovah make this covenant, but with us, [even] us, those [who are] here alive all of us this day.

⁴ Face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire Jehovah spoke with you

⁵ (I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Jehovah; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up to the mountain), saying,

⁶ I am Jehovah thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

⁷ Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

⁸ Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image, any form of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth:

⁹ thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, and upon the third and upon the fourth [generation] of them that hate me,

¹⁰ and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ Thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jehovah thy God; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that idly uttereth his name.

¹² Keep the sabbath day to hallow it, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee.

¹³ Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;

¹⁴ but the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy bondman, nor thy handmaid, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy sojourner that is within thy gates; that thy bondman and thy handmaid may rest as well as thou.

¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence with a powerful hand and with a stretched-out arm; therefore Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee to observe the sabbath day.

¹⁶ Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

¹⁷ Thou shalt not kill.

¹⁸ Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

¹⁹ Neither shalt thou steal.

²⁰ Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

²¹ Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, nor his bondman, nor his handmaid, his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.

²² These words Jehovah spoke to all your congregation on the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the obscurity, with a great voice, and he added no more; and he wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me.

²³ And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain burned with fire, that ye came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

²⁴ and ye said, Behold, Jehovah our God has shewn us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God talks with man, and he lives.

²⁵ And now, why should we die? for this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, we shall die.

²⁶ For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we, and has lived?

²⁷ Come thou near, and hear all that Jehovah our God will say; and speak thou to us all that Jehovah our God will speak to thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

²⁸ And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people that have spoken to thee: they have well spoken all that they have spoken.

²⁹ Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments continually, that it might be well with them and with their sons for ever!

³⁰ Go, say unto them, Get you into your tents again.

³¹ But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

³² Take heed then to do as Jehovah your God hath commanded you: turn not aside to the right hand or to the left.

³³ In all the way that Jehovah your God hath commanded you shall ye walk, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

6 And these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye may do them in the land whereunto ye pass over to possess it,

² that thou mayest fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

³ And thou shalt hear, Israel, and take heed to do [them]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase greatly, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ Hear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;

⁵ and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.

⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart;

⁷ and thou shalt impress them on thy sons, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

⁸ And thou shalt bind them for a sign on thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.

⁹ And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

¹⁰ And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee: great and good cities which thou buildedst not,

¹¹ and houses full of everything good which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt have eaten and shalt be full;

¹² [then] beware lest thou forget Jehovah who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

¹³ Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

¹⁴ Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you;

¹⁵ for Jehovah thy God is a jealous God in thy midst; lest the anger of Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from the face of the earth.

¹⁶ Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

¹⁷ Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

¹⁸ And thou shalt do what is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest enter in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers,

¹⁹ thrusting out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken.

²⁰ When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?

²¹ then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand;

²² and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes;

²³ and he brought us out thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers.

²⁴ And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good continually, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day.

²⁵ And it shall be our righteousness if we take heed to do all these commandments before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.

7 When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations from before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou,

² and when Jehovah thy God shall give them up before thee and thou shalt smite them, then shalt thou utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.

³ And thou shalt make no marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor take his daughter for thy son;

⁴ for he will turn away thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.

⁵ But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire.

⁶ For a holy people art thou unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be unto him a people for a possession, above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

⁷ Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples;

⁸ but because Jehovah loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a powerful hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹ And thou shalt know that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy to a thousand generations with them that love him and keep his commandments;

¹⁰ and repayeth them that hate him [each] to his face, to cause them to perish: he delayeth not with him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

¹¹ And thou shalt keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them.

¹² And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto thy fathers;

¹³ and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, thy corn and thy new wine, and thine oil, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep, in the land which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee.

¹⁴ Thou shalt be blessed above all the peoples; there shall not be male or female barren with thee, or with thy cattle;

¹⁵ and Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness, and none of the evil infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, will he put upon thee; but he will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

¹⁶ And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God will give up unto thee; thine eye shall not spare them, and thou shalt not serve their gods; for that would be a snare unto thee.

¹⁷ If thou shouldest say in thy heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?

¹⁸ fear them not; remember well what Jehovah thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all the Egyptians;

¹⁹ the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the powerful hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought thee out: so will Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples whom thou fearest.

²⁰ Moreover, Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and they that hide themselves from thee, are destroyed.

²¹ Thou shalt not be afraid of them; for Jehovah thy God is in thy midst, a God great and terrible.

²² And Jehovah thy God will cast out those nations from before thee by little and little; thou shalt not be able to make an end of them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

²³ But Jehovah thy God will give them up before thee, and will confound them with great consternation, until they are destroyed.

²⁴ And he will give their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt put out their name from under the heavens; no man shall stand before thee, until thou hast destroyed them.

²⁵ The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver and gold [that is] on them and take it unto thee, lest thou be ensnared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

²⁶ And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

8 Every commandment which I command thee this day shall ye take heed to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and enter in and possess the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers.

² And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not.

³ And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with the manna, which thou hadst not known, and which thy fathers knew not; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by everything that goeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.

⁴ Thy clothing grew not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

⁵ And know in thy heart that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee;

⁶ and thou shalt keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

⁷ For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of water-brooks, of springs, and of deep waters, that gush forth in the valleys and hills;

⁸ a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey;

⁹ a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, where thou shalt lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou wilt dig copper.

¹⁰ And thou shalt eat and be filled, and shalt bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

¹¹ Beware that thou forget not Jehovah thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command thee this day;

¹² lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built and inhabited fine houses,

¹³ and thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied,

¹⁴ then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

¹⁵ who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, [a wilderness of] fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there is no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

¹⁶ who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

¹⁷ —and thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand has procured me this wealth.

¹⁸ But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, that it is he who giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

¹⁹ And it shall be, if thou do at all forget Jehovah thy God, and go after other gods, and serve them, and bow down to them, I testify against you this day that ye shall utterly perish.

²⁰ As the nations which Jehovah is causing to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God.

9 Hear, Israel! Thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to enter in to possess nations greater and mightier than thou, cities great and walled up to heaven,

² a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard [say], Who can stand before the sons of Anak!

³ Know then this day, that Jehovah thy God is he that goeth over before thee, a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will cast them down before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them and cause them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath said unto thee.

⁴ Thou shalt not say in thy heart, when Jehovah thy God thrusteth them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah dispossess them from before thee.

⁵ Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou enter in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah thy God dispossess them from before thee, and that he may perform the word which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ Know therefore that Jehovah thy God doth not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.

⁷ Remember, forget not, how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah.

⁸ And at Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you, to destroy you,

⁹ when I went up the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, and I abode in the mountain forty days and forty nights,—I ate no bread and drank no water,—

¹⁰ —and Jehovah delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words which Jehovah spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

¹¹ And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant.

¹² And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them: they have made for themselves a molten image.

¹³ And Jehovah spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

¹⁴ Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

¹⁵ And I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶ And I saw, and behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God: ye had made for yourselves a molten calf; ye had quickly turned aside from the way which Jehovah had commanded you.

¹⁷ And I seized the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

¹⁸ And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights,—I ate no bread and drank no water,—because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing what is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.

¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and fury wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you. And Jehovah listened unto me also at that time.

²⁰ And with Aaron Jehovah was very angry to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²¹ And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small, until it became fine dust; and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that flowed down from the mountain.

²² And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath.

²³ And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you, ye rebelled against the word of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

²⁴ Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.

²⁵ So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights, as I fell down; for Jehovah had said he would destroy you.

²⁶ I prayed therefore to Jehovah, and said, Lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a powerful hand.

²⁷ Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin;

²⁸ lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he had promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.

²⁹ They are indeed thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out with thy great power and with thy stretched-out arm.

10 At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first, and come up unto me into the mountain, and make thee an ark of wood;

² and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou didst break, and thou shalt lay them in the ark.

³ And I made an ark of acacia-wood, and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables in my hand.

⁴ And he wrote on the tables, as the first writing, the ten words which Jehovah spoke unto you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, on the day of the assembly, and Jehovah gave them unto me.

⁵ And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in the ark which I had made;—and they are there, as Jehovah commanded me.

⁶ (And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth-Bene-Jaakan to Moserah: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son exercised the priesthood in his stead.

⁷ From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of water-brooks.)

⁸ At that time Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to do service unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

⁹ Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah thy God told him.

¹⁰ But I stood upon the mountain according to the former days, forty days and forty nights; and Jehovah listened unto me also at that time: Jehovah would not destroy thee.

¹¹ And Jehovah said unto me, Rise up, take thy journey before the people, that they may enter in and possess the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them.

¹² And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

¹³ to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, for thy good?

¹⁴ Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein.

¹⁵ Only, Jehovah took pleasure in thy fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed after them, [even] you, out of all the peoples, as it is this day.

¹⁶ Circumcise then the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.

¹⁷ For Jehovah your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward;

¹⁸ who executeth the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger, to give him food and clothing.

¹⁹ And ye shall love the stranger; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt.

²⁰ Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; him thou shalt serve, and unto him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

²¹ He is thy praise, and he is thy God, who hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

²² With seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt; and now Jehovah thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

11 Thou shalt love then Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments continually.

² And know ye this day …; for [I speak] not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his powerful hand, and his stretched-out arm,

³ and his signs and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

⁴ and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and unto their chariots, over which he made the water of the Red sea flow as they pursued after you, and Jehovah destroyed them unto this day;

⁵ —and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came to this place;

⁶ and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben,—how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, with their households, and their tents, and all the living substance that belonged to them, in the midst of all Israel.

⁷ For your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he hath done.

⁸ Keep then all the commandment which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and enter in and possess the land, whither ye pass over to possess it;

⁹ and that ye may prolong your days in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give unto them and unto their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰ For the land, whither thou enterest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs;

¹¹ but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven,

¹² a land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

¹³ And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

¹⁴ that I will give rain to your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain; and thou shalt gather in thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil;

¹⁵ and I will give grass in thy field for thy cattle; and thou shalt eat and be full.

¹⁶ Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and bow down to them,

¹⁷ and Jehovah's wrath kindle against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain, and that the ground yield not its produce, and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah is giving you.

¹⁸ And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

¹⁹ And ye shall teach them unto your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up;

²⁰ and write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates;

²¹ that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens [which are] above the earth.

²² For if ye diligently keep all this commandment which I command you [this day] to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him,

²³ then will Jehovah dispossess all these nations from before you, and ye shall take possession of nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

²⁴ Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall your border be.

²⁵ No man shall be able to stand before you: the fear of you and the dread of you will Jehovah your God lay upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

²⁶ See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:

²⁷ a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day;

²⁸ and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known.

²⁹ And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God hath brought thee into the land whither thou enterest in to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

³⁰ Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, beyond the way toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell on the plain opposite to Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

³¹ For ye pass over the Jordan to enter in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall take possession of it, and dwell therein.

³² And ye shall take heed to do all the statutes and ordinances which I set before you this day.

12 These are the statutes and ordinances, which ye shall take heed to do in the land, which Jehovah the God of thy fathers is giving thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

² Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall dispossess have served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree;

³ and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place.

⁴ Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God;

⁵ but unto the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to set his name there, his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;

⁶ and thither ye shall bring your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your voluntary-offerings, and the firstlings of your kine and of your sheep;

⁷ and ye shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice, ye and your households, in all the business of your hand, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.

⁸ Ye shall not do after all that we do here this day, each one whatever is right in his own eyes.

⁹ For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

¹⁰ But when ye have gone over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God causeth you to inherit, and when he hath given you rest from all your enemies round about, and ye dwell in safety,

¹¹ then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God will choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye shall vow to Jehovah.

¹² And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your bondmen, and your handmaids, and the Levite that is within your gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with you.

¹³ Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest;

¹⁴ but in the place which Jehovah will choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

¹⁵ Nevertheless, according to all the desire of thy soul thou mayest slay and eat flesh in all thy gates, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and the hart.

¹⁶ Only, ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

¹⁷ Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy kine or of thy sheep, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy voluntary-offerings, nor the heave-offering of thy hand;

¹⁸ but before Jehovah thy God shalt thou eat them in the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is within thy gates; and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all the business of thy hand.

¹⁹ Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite all the days thou shalt be in thy land.

²⁰ When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he promised thee, and thou say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh, thou mayest eat flesh, according to all the desire of thy soul.

²¹ If the place which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt slay of thy kine and of thy sheep which Jehovah hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates according to all the desire of thy soul.

²² Even as the gazelle and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean alike may eat of them.

²³ Only, be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh;

²⁴ thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water:

²⁵ thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

²⁶ But thy hallowed things which thou hast, and what thou hast vowed, thou shalt take, and come to the place which Jehovah will choose;

²⁷ and thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah thy God; and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and the flesh shalt thou eat.

²⁸ Take heed to hear all these words which I command thee, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest what is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

²⁹ When Jehovah thy God cutteth off from before thee the nations whither thou goest, to take possession of them, and thou hast dispossessed them, and dwellest in their land,

³⁰ take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared [to follow] after them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

³¹ Thou shalt not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every [thing that is] abomination to Jehovah, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burned in the fire to their gods.

³² Everything that I command you, ye shall take heed to do it; thou shalt not add thereto, nor take from it.

13 If there arise among you a prophet, or one that dreameth dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder,

² and the sign or the wonder come to pass that he told unto thee, when he said, Let us go after other gods, whom thou hast not known, and let us serve them,

³ —thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for Jehovah your God proveth you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴ Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and ye shall fear him, and his commandments shall ye keep, and his voice shall ye hear; and ye shall serve him, and unto him shall ye cleave.

⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; for he hath spoken revolt against Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage,—to draw thee out of the way that Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

⁶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is to thee as thy soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods (whom thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

⁷ of the gods of the peoples which are round about you, near unto thee, or far from thee, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth),

⁸ thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou pity him, neither shalt thou screen him,

⁹ but thou shalt in any case kill him: thy hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people;

¹⁰ and thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; for he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

¹¹ and all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wicked thing as this in thy midst.

¹² If in one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee to dwell there, thou hearest, saying,

¹³ There are men, children of Belial, gone out from among you, and they have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom ye have not known;

¹⁴ then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and if it be truth, [and] the thing be certain, that this abomination hath happened in the midst of thee,

¹⁵ thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it to destruction, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶ And all the spoil of it shalt thou gather into the midst of the open place thereof, and shalt burn the city with fire, and all the spoil thereof, wholly to Jehovah thy God; and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

¹⁷ And thou shalt not let anything cleave to thy hand of the devoted thing; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

¹⁸ when thou hearkenest to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, that thou mayest do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

14 Ye are sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for a dead person.

² For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

³ Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

⁴ These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;

⁵ the hart, and the gazelle, and the stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep.

⁶ And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, [and] which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat.

⁷ Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs—they shall be unclean unto you;

⁸ and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud—it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch.

⁹ These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat;

¹⁰ but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you.

¹¹ All clean birds shall ye eat.

¹² But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle,

¹³ and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind;

¹⁴ and every raven after its kind;

¹⁵ and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind;

¹⁶ the owl, and the ibis and the swan,

¹⁷ and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet,

¹⁸ and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹ And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten.

²⁰ All clean fowls shall ye eat.

²¹ Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

²² Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, the produce of the field, year by year.

²³ And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he will choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually.

²⁴ And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God blesseth thee;

²⁵ then shalt thou give it for money, and bind the money together in thy hand, and go to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose,

²⁶ and thou shalt give the money for whatever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thy house.

²⁷ And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that is within thy gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee.

²⁸ At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates;

²⁹ and the Levite—for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee—and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.

15 At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release,

² and this is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall relax his hand from the loan which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not demand it of his neighbour, or of his brother; for a release to Jehovah hath been proclaimed.

³ Of the foreigner thou mayest demand it; but what is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release;

⁴ save when there shall be no one in need among you; for Jehovah will greatly bless thee in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it,

⁵ if thou only diligently hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

⁶ For Jehovah thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee; and thou shalt lend on pledge to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.

⁷ If there be amongst you a poor man, any one of thy brethren in one of thy gates, in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy brother in need;

⁸ but thou shalt open thy hand bountifully unto him, and shalt certainly lend him on pledge what is sufficient for his need, [in that] which he lacketh.

⁹ Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be sin in thee.

¹⁰ Thou shalt bountifully give unto him, and thy heart shall not be evil-disposed when thou givest unto him; because for this thing Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all the business of thy hand.

¹¹ For the needy shall never cease from within the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand bountifully unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy, in thy land.

¹² If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, have been sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years, and in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

¹³ And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty;

¹⁴ thou shalt certainly furnish him from thy sheep, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of what Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee with shalt thou give unto him.

¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing to-day.

¹⁶ And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee,—because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee,—

¹⁷ then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear and into the door; and he shall be thy bondman for ever. And also unto thy handmaid thou shalt do likewise.

¹⁸ Let it not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for double the worth of a hired servant hath he been to thee, [in] serving thee six years; and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest.

¹⁹ Every firstling that is born among thy kine and among thy sheep that is a male, thou shalt hallow to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy kine, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

²⁰ Thou shalt eat it before Jehovah thy God, year by year, in the place which Jehovah will choose, thou and thy household.

²¹ But if there be a defect therein, [if it be] lame, or blind, [or have] any evil defect, thou shalt not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God.

²² In thy gates shalt thou eat it; the unclean and the clean [shall eat it] alike, as the gazelle and as the hart.

²³ Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof: thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.

16 Keep the month of Abib, and celebrate the passover to Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

² And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah will choose to cause his name to dwell there.

³ Thou shalt eat no leavened bread along with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste,—that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life.

⁴ And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst at even on the first day, be left over night until the morning.—

⁵ Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover in one of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee;

⁶ but at the place that Jehovah thy God will choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the time that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

⁷ And thou shalt cook and eat it at the place which Jehovah thy God will choose; and in the morning shalt thou turn and go unto thy tents.

⁸ Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a solemn assembly to Jehovah thy God; thou shalt do no work.

⁹ Seven weeks shalt thou count: from the beginning of putting the sickle into the corn shalt thou begin to count seven weeks.

¹⁰ And thou shalt hold the feast of weeks to Jehovah thy God with a tribute of a voluntary-offering of thy hand, which thou shalt give, according as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee;

¹¹ and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is in thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are in thy midst in the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there.

¹² And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt keep and do these statutes.

¹³ The feast of tabernacles shalt thou hold seven days, when thou hast gathered in [the produce] of thy floor and of thy winepress.

¹⁴ And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in thy gates.

¹⁵ Seven days shalt thou hold a feast to Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah will choose; for Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy produce, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be wholly joyful.

¹⁶ Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he will choose, at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Jehovah empty:

¹⁷ each [shall give] according to that which is in his power to give, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee.

¹⁸ Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes, that they may judge the people with just judgment.

¹⁹ Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for the bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

²⁰ Perfect justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and possess the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

²¹ Thou shalt not plant thyself an Asherah of any wood near unto the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

²² Neither shalt thou set thee up a statue, which Jehovah thy God hateth.

17 Thou shalt not sacrifice to Jehovah thy God an ox or sheep wherein is a defect, or anything bad; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

² If there be found in thy midst in any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth what is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

³ and goeth and serveth other gods, and boweth down to them, either to the sun or to the moon, or to the whole host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

⁴ and it be told thee, and thou hearest of it; then thou shalt make thorough inquiry, and if it be truth [and] the thing be certain, that this abomination hath been wrought in Israel,

⁵ thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman, who committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, the man or the woman, and shalt stone them with stones, that they die.

⁶ At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death: he shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness.

⁷ The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

⁸ If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between cause and cause, and between stroke and stroke, matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise, and go up to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose.

⁹ And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall declare unto thee the sentence of judgment;

¹⁰ and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the word, which they of that place which Jehovah will choose shall declare unto thee; and thou shalt take heed to do according to all that they instruct thee:

¹¹ according to the sentence of the law which they shall declare unto thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the word which they shall declare unto thee, to the right hand, or the left.

¹² And the man that shall act presumptuously, and not hearken unto the priest that standeth to serve there before Jehovah thy God, or unto the judge, that man shall die; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

¹³ And all the people shall hear, and fear, and no more act presumptuously.

¹⁴ When thou comest unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me;

¹⁵ thou shalt only set him king over thee whom Jehovah thy God will choose: from among thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee; thou mayest not set a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.

¹⁶ Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people to Egypt, to multiply horses; for Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall not return again any more that way.

¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

¹⁸ And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites;

¹⁹ and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;

²⁰ that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

18 The priests, the Levites, [and] the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: Jehovah's offerings by fire, and his inheritance shall they eat,

² but they shall have no inheritance among their brethren: Jehovah, he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

³ And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that sacrifice a sacrifice, whether ox, or sheep: they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the jawbones, and the maw.

⁴ The firstfruits [also] of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstfruits of the shearing of thy sheep, shalt thou give him;

⁵ for Jehovah thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, that he may stand to serve in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons continually.

⁶ And if the Levite shall come from one of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and shall come according to all the desire of his soul unto the place which Jehovah will choose,

⁷ and shall serve in the name of Jehovah his God, as all his brethren the Levites that stand there before Jehovah,

⁸ —they shall have like portions to eat, besides that which he hath sold of his patrimony.

⁹ When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.

¹⁰ There shall not be found among you he that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, that useth divination, that useth auguries, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

¹¹ or a charmer, or one that inquireth of a spirit of Python, or a soothsayer, or one that consulteth the dead.

¹² For every one that doeth these things is an abomination to Jehovah, and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth dispossess them from before thee.

¹³ Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God.

¹⁴ For these nations, which thou shalt dispossess, hearkened unto those that use auguries, and that use divination; but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee [to do] so.

¹⁵ Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken;

¹⁶ according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

¹⁷ And Jehovah said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

¹⁸ A prophet will I raise up unto them from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass that the man who hearkeneth not unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

²⁰ But the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

²¹ And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word that Jehovah hath not spoken?

²² When a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, and the thing followeth not, nor cometh to pass, that is the word which Jehovah hath not spoken; the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: be not afraid of him.

19 When Jehovah thy God hath cut off the nations whose land Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and thou hast dispossessed them, and dwellest in their cities and in their houses,

² thou shalt separate three cities for thyself in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess.

³ Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and divide the territory of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, so that every slayer may flee thither.

⁴ And this is the case of the slayer who shall flee thither that he may live: he that smiteth his neighbour unwittingly, whom he hated not previously;

⁵ as when he goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron slippeth from the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; such an one shall flee unto one of these cities, and live;

⁶ lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, since he hated him not previously.

⁷ Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thyself.

⁸ And if Jehovah thy God enlarge thy border, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers

⁹ (if thou keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk in his ways continually), then shalt thou add three cities more for thyself to these three,

¹⁰ that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and blood come not upon thee.

¹¹ But if a man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and he flee into one of these cities,

¹² then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

¹³ Thine eye shall not spare him; and thou shalt put away innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have fixed in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess.

¹⁵ One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, and for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.

¹⁶ If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of an offence;

¹⁷ then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days;

¹⁸ and the judges shall make thorough inquiry; and if the witness be a false witness, and he have testified falsely against his brother,

¹⁹ then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²⁰ And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in thy midst.

²¹ And thine eye shall not spare: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

20 When thou goest out to war against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, [and] a people more numerous than thou, thou shalt not fear them; for Jehovah thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

² And it shall be, when ye approach unto the battle, that the priest shall draw near and speak unto the people,

³ and shall say unto them, Hear, Israel, ye are approaching this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be afraid of them;

⁴ for Jehovah your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁵ And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

⁶ And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not eaten of it? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.

⁷ And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.

⁸ And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and shall say, What man is there that is timid and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as well as his heart.

⁹ And it shall be, when the officers have ended speaking unto the people, that they shall place captains of the hosts at the head of the people.

¹⁰ When thou approachest unto a city to fight against it, thou shalt proclaim peace unto it.

¹¹ And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

¹² And if it will not make peace with thee, but will make war with thee, then thou shalt besiege it;

¹³ and when Jehovah thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

¹⁴ only the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that shall be in the city, all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take as booty for thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee

¹⁵ Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities that are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶ But of the cities of these peoples which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth,

¹⁷ but shalt utterly devote them to destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee;

¹⁸ that they teach you not to do according to all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods, so that ye sin against Jehovah your God.

¹⁹ When thou shalt besiege a city many days, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by lifting up an axe against them; for thou canst eat of them; and thou shalt not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man that it should be besieged?

²⁰ Only the trees which thou knowest are not trees for meat, thou mayest destroy and cut them down, and build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall.

21 If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath smitten him,

² then thine elders and thy judges shall go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;

³ and the city that is nearest unto him that is slain, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer that hath not been wrought with, that hath not drawn in the yoke;

⁴ and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto an ever-flowing watercourse, which is not tilled, nor is it sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the watercourse;

⁵ and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to do service unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word shall be every controversy and every stroke.

⁶ And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto him that is slain, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck is broken in the watercourse,

⁷ and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

⁸ Forgive thy people Israel, whom thou, Jehovah, hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel; and the blood shall be expiated for them.

⁹ So shalt thou put away innocent blood from thy midst, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

¹⁰ When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou hast taken captives of them,

¹¹ and thou seest among the captives a woman of beautiful form, and hast a desire unto her, and takest her as thy wife;

¹² then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

¹³ and she shall put the clothes of her captivity from off her, and shall abide in thy house, and bewail her father and mother a full month, and afterwards thou mayest go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

¹⁴ And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go according to her desire; but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money; thou shalt not treat her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.

¹⁵ If a man have two wives, one beloved, and one hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;

¹⁶ then it shall be, in the day that he maketh his sons to inherit what he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;

¹⁷ but he shall acknowledge as firstborn the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that is found with him; for he is the firstfruits of his vigour: the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ If a man have an unmanageable and rebellious son, who hearkeneth not unto the voice of his father, nor unto the voice of his mother, and they have chastened him, but he hearkeneth not unto them;

¹⁹ then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

²⁰ and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is unmanageable and rebellious, he hearkeneth not unto our voice; he is a profligate and a drunkard.

²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. And thou shalt put evil away from thy midst; and all Israel shall hear and fear.

²² And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou have hanged him on a tree,

²³ his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is a curse of God); and thou shalt not defile thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

22 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them back unto thy brother.

² And if thy brother be not near unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it unto him.

³ And so shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his clothing; and so shalt thou do with everything that is lost of thy brother, which he loseth, and thou findest: thou mayest not hide thyself.

⁴ Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case [help] him to lift them up.

⁵ There shall not be a man's apparel on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever doeth so is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

⁶ If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or upon the ground, with young or with eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

⁷ thou shalt in any case let the dam go, and thou mayest take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

⁸ When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any one should in any wise fall from it.

⁹ Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with [seed of] two sorts, lest the whole of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the produce of thy vineyard, be forfeited.

¹⁰ Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

¹¹ Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixed material, [woven] of wool and linen together.

¹² Tassels shalt thou make thee on the four corners of thy clothing, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

¹³ If a man take a wife, and go in unto her and hate her,

¹⁴ and charge her with things for scandalous talk, and cause an evil name against her to be spread abroad, and say, This woman have I taken, and I came in unto her, and I did not find her a virgin;

¹⁵ then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate;

¹⁶ and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man as wife, and he hates her;

¹⁷ and behold, he charges her with things for scandalous talk, saying, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and here are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸ And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him;

¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath caused an evil name to be spread abroad against a virgin in Israel. And she shall remain his wife: he may not put her away all his days.

²⁰ But if this thing is true, [and] virginity hath not been found with the damsel;

²¹ then they shall bring out the damsel unto the entrance of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought infamy in Israel, committing fornication in her father's house; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²² If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

²³ If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,

²⁴ then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, [being] in the city, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²⁵ But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;

²⁶ and unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and murdereth him, so is this matter;

²⁷ for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was no one to save her.

²⁸ If a man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found,

²⁹ then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰ A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.

23 He that is a eunuch, whether he have been crushed or cut, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

² A bastard shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even his tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

³ An Ammonite or Moabite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even their tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah for ever;

⁴ because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.