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Pagan Shrines to Be Destroyed

12 “These are the statutes and ordinances that you must diligently observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth.(A)

“You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles[a] with fire, and cut down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places.(B) You shall not serve the Lord your God in such ways. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there,(C) bringing there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.(D)

“You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety,(E) 11 then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the Lord.(F) 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you).(G)

A Prescribed Place of Worship

13 “Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place you happen to see. 14 But only at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes—there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything I command you.(H)

15 “Yet whenever you desire you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, according to the blessing that the Lord your God has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as they would of gazelle or deer.(I) 16 The blood, however, you must not eat; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.(J) 17 Nor may you eat within your towns the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, the firstlings of your herds and your flocks, any of your votive gifts that you vow, your freewill offerings, or your donations; 18 these you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that the Lord your God will choose, you together with your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, and the Levites resident in your towns, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God in all your undertakings.(K) 19 Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.(L)

20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I am going to eat some meat,’ because you wish to eat meat, you may eat meat whenever you have the desire.(M) 21 If the place where the Lord your God will choose to put his name is too far from you, and you slaughter as I have commanded you any of your herd or flock that the Lord has given you, then you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. 22 Indeed, just as gazelle or deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it.(N) 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat.(O) 24 Do not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.(P) 26 But the sacred donations that are due from you and your votive gifts you shall bring to the place that the Lord will choose.(Q) 27 You shall present your burnt offerings, both the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices shall be poured out beside[b] the altar of the Lord your God, but the meat you may eat.

28 “Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.(R)

Warning against Idolatry

29 “When the Lord your God has cut off before you the nations whom you are about to enter to dispossess them, when you have dispossessed them and live in their land, 30 take care that you are not snared into imitating them, after they have been destroyed before you; do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also want to do the same.’ 31 You must not do the same for the Lord your God, because every abhorrent thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.(S) 32 [c]You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it.(T)

13 [d]“If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and show you omens or portents,(U) and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them,’(V) you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.(W) The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.(X) But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.(Y)

“If anyone secretly entices you—even if it is your brother, your father’s son or[e] your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend—saying, ‘Let us go serve other gods,’ whom neither you nor your ancestors have known,(Z) any of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other, you must not yield to or heed any such persons. Show them no pity or compassion, and do not shield them. But you shall surely kill them; your own hand shall be first against them to execute them and afterward the hand of all the people.(AA) 10 Stone them to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 Then all Israel shall hear and be afraid and never again do any such wickedness.(AB)

12 “If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, 13 that scoundrels from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ whom you have not known,(AC) 14 then you shall inquire and make a thorough investigation. If the charge is established that such an abhorrent thing has been done among you, 15 you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it, even putting its livestock to the sword.(AD) 16 All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square, then burn the town and all its spoil with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt.(AE) 17 Do not let anything devoted to destruction stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion, and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors,(AF) 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.(AG)

Pagan Practices Forbidden

14 “You are children of the Lord your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead.(AH) For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.(AI)

Clean and Unclean Foods

“You shall not eat any abhorrent thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,(AJ) the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof cleft in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cleft you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.(AK)

“Of all that live in water you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat.(AL) 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat any clean birds. 12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,(AM) 13 the buzzard, the kite of any kind; 14 every raven of any kind; 15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 16 the little owl and the great owl, the water hen 17 and the desert owl,[f] the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.[g] 19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.(AN) 20 You may eat any clean winged creature.

21 “You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to aliens residing in your towns for them to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.(AO)

Regulations concerning Tithes

22 “Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.(AP) 23 In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.(AQ) 24 But if, when the Lord your God has blessed you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to set his name is too far away from you,(AR) 25 then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose; 26 spend the money for whatever you wish: oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever you desire. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together.(AS) 27 As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.(AT)

28 “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year and store it within your towns;(AU) 29 the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.(AV)

Laws concerning the Sabbatical Year

15 “Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts.(AW) And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it,[h] because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.(AX) When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.(AY)

“If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.(AZ) You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.(BA) Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor[i] might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.(BB) 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.(BC) 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’(BD)

12 “If a member of your community, whether a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold[j] to you and works for you six years, in the seventh year you shall set that person free.(BE) 13 And when you send a male slave[k] out from you a free person, you shall not send him out empty-handed. 14 Provide for him liberally out of your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress, thus giving to him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; for this reason I lay this command upon you today.(BF) 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,(BG) 17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his earlobe into the door, and he shall be your slave forever.

“You shall do the same with regard to your female slave.

18 “Do not consider it a hardship when you send them out from you free persons, because for six years they have given you services worth the wages of hired laborers, and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

The Firstborn of Livestock

19 “Every firstling male born of your herd and flock you shall consecrate to the Lord your God; you shall not do work with your firstling ox nor shear the firstling of your flock.(BH) 20 You shall eat it, you together with your household, in the presence of the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose.(BI) 21 But if it has any defect—any serious defect, such as lameness or blindness—you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God;(BJ) 22 within your towns you may eat it, the unclean and the clean alike, as you would a gazelle or deer.(BK) 23 Its blood, however, you must not eat; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.(BL)

The Passover Reviewed

16 “Observe the month[l] of Abib by keeping the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.(BM) You shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his name.(BN) You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt.(BO) No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.(BP) You are not permitted to offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you. But at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, only there shall you offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.(BQ) You shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose; the next morning you may go back to your tents.(BR) For six days you shall continue to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly for the Lord your God, when you shall do no work.(BS)

The Festival of Weeks Reviewed

“You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.(BT) 10 Then you shall keep the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God, contributing a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord your God. 11 Rejoice before the Lord your God—you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites resident in your towns, as well as the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who are among you—at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.(BU) 12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and diligently observe these statutes.(BV)

The Festival of Booths Reviewed

13 “You shall keep the Festival of Booths[m] for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.(BW) 14 Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.(BX) 15 Seven days you shall keep the festival to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.(BY)

16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths.[n] They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed;(BZ) 17 all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

Municipal Judges and Officers

18 “You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people.(CA) 19 You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.(CB) 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

21 “You shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole[o] beside the altar that you make for the Lord your God,(CC) 22 nor shall you set up a stone pillar—things that the Lord your God hates.

Footnotes

  1. 12.3 Or Asherahs
  2. 12.27 Or on
  3. 12.32 13.1 in Heb
  4. 13.1 13.2 in Heb
  5. 13.6 Sam Gk Compare Tg: MT lacks your father’s son or
  6. 14.17 Or pelican
  7. 14.18 Identification of several of the birds in 14.12–18 is uncertain
  8. 15.2 Q ms: MT adds of a neighbor who is a member of the community
  9. 15.9 Heb he
  10. 15.12 Or sells himself or herself
  11. 15.13 Heb him
  12. 16.1 Or new moon
  13. 16.13 Or Tabernacles
  14. 16.16 Or Tabernacles
  15. 16.21 Or Asherah