13 ^(12:32) “Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.

^2 (1) “If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, ^3 (2) and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ ^4 (3) you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For Adonai your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love Adonai your God with all your heart and being. ^5 (4) You are to follow Adonai your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him; ^6 (5) and that prophet or dreamer is to be put to death; because he urged rebellion against Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from a life of slavery; in order to seduce you away from the path Adonai your God ordered you to follow. This is how you are to rid your community of this wickedness.

^7 (6) “If your brother the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife whom you love, or your friend who means as much to you as yourself, secretly tries to entice you to go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known, neither you nor your ancestors — ^8 (7) gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near or far away from you, anywhere in the world — ^9 (8) you are not to consent, and you are not to listen to him; and you must not pity him or spare him; and you may not conceal him. ^10 (9) Rather, you must kill him! Your own hand must be the first one on him in putting him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. ^11 (10) You are to stone him to death; because he has tried to draw you away from Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. ^12 (11) Then all Isra’el will hear about it and be afraid, so that they will stop doing such wickedness as this among themselves.

^13 (12) “If you hear it told that in one of your cities which Adonai your God is giving you to live in, ^14 (13) certain scoundrels have sprung up among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city by saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known,’ ^15 (14) then you are to investigate the matter, inquiring and searching diligently. If the rumor is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done among you, ^16 (15) you must put the inhabitants of that city to death with the sword, destroying it completely with the sword, everything in it, including its livestock. ^17 (16) Heap all its spoils in an open space, and burn the city with its spoils to the ground for Adonai your God; it will remain a tel forever and not be built again — ^18 (17) none of what has been set apart for destruction is to stay in your hands. Then Adonai will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and increase your numbers, as he swore to your ancestors — ^19 (18) provided you listen to what Adonai says and obey all his mitzvot that I am giving you today, thus doing what Adonai your God sees as right.

14 (iv) “You are the people of Adonai your God. You are not to gash yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead, ² because you are a people set apart as holy for Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you to be his own unique treasure out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

³ “You are not to eat anything disgusting. ⁴ The animals which you may eat are: ox, sheep, goat, ⁵ deer, gazelle, roebuck, ibex, antelope, oryx and mountain sheep. ⁶ Any animal that has a separate hoof that is completely divided and also chews the cud, these animals you may eat. ⁷ But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof. For example, the camel, the hare and the coney are unclean for you because they chew the cud but don’t have a separate hoof; ⁸ while the pig is unclean for you because, although it has a separate hoof, it doesn’t chew the cud. You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses.

⁹ “Of all that lives in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, these you may eat. ¹⁰ But whatever lacks fins and scales you are not to eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “You may eat any clean bird; ¹² but these you are not to eat: eagles, vultures, ospreys, ¹³ kites, any kind of buzzard, ¹⁴ any kind of raven, ¹⁵ ostriches, screech-owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk, ¹⁶ little owls, great owls, horned owls, ¹⁷ pelicans, barn owls, cormorants, ¹⁸ storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes and bats.

¹⁹ “All winged swarming creatures are unclean for you; they are not to be eaten; ²⁰ but all clean flying creatures you may eat.

²¹ “You are not to eat any animal that dies naturally; although you may let a stranger staying with you eat it, or sell it to a foreigner; because you are a holy people for Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young animal in its mother’s milk.

(v) ²² “Every year you must take one tenth of everything your seed produces in the field, ²³ and eat it in the presence of Adonai your God. In the place where he chooses to have his name live you will eat the tenth of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, so that you will learn to fear Adonai your God always. ²⁴ But if the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport it, because the place where Adonai chooses to put his name is too far away from you; then, when Adonai your God prospers you, ²⁵ you are to convert it into money, take the money with you, go to the place which Adonai your God will choose, ²⁶ and exchange the money for anything you want — cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please — and you are to eat there in the presence of Adonai your God, and enjoy yourselves, you and your household.

²⁷ “But don’t neglect the Levi staying with you, because he has no share or inheritance like yours. ²⁸ At the end of every three years you are to take all the tenths of your produce from that year and store it in your towns. ²⁹ Then the Levi, because he has no share or inheritance like yours, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow living in your towns, will come, eat and be satisfied — so that Adonai your God will bless you in everything your hands produce.

15 (vi) “At the end of every seven years you are to have a sh’mittah. ² Here is how the sh’mittah is to be done: every creditor is to give up what he has loaned to his fellow member of the community — he is not to force his neighbor or relative to repay it, because Adonai’s time of remission has been proclaimed. ³ You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you. ⁴ In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because Adonai will certainly bless you in the land which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess — ⁵ if only you will listen carefully to what Adonai your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today. ⁶ Yes, Adonai your God will bless you, as he promised you — you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you.

⁷ “If someone among you is needy, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which Adonai your God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from giving to your needy brother. ⁸ No, you must open your hand to him and lend him enough to meet his need and enable him to obtain what he wants. ⁹ Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year of sh’mittah is at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out to Adonai against you, and it will be your sin. ¹⁰ Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this, Adonai your God will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake — ¹¹ for there will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am giving you this order, ‘You must open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.’

¹² “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you for six years; but in the seventh year, you are to set him free. ¹³ Moreover, when you set him free, don’t let him leave empty-handed; ¹⁴ but supply him generously from your flock, threshing-floor and winepress; from what Adonai your God has blessed you with, you are to give to him. ¹⁵ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this order today. ¹⁶ But if he says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one; ¹⁷ then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever. Do the same with your female slave. ¹⁸ Don’t resent it when you set him free, since during his six years of service he has been worth twice as much as a hired employee. Then Adonai your God will bless you in everything you do.

(vii) ¹⁹ “All the firstborn males in your herd of cattle and in your flock you are to set aside for Adonai your God; you are not to do any work with a firstborn from your herd or shear a firstborn sheep. ²⁰ Each year you and your household are to eat it in the presence of Adonai your God in the place which Adonai will choose. ²¹ But if it has a defect, is lame or blind, or has some other kind of fault, you are not to sacrifice it to Adonai your God; ²² rather, eat it on your own property; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, like the gazelle or the deer. ²³ Just don’t eat its blood, but pour it out on the ground like water.

1 From: Sha’ul, an emissary — I received my commission not from human beings or through human mediation but through Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — also from all the brothers with me

² To: The Messianic communities in Galatia:

³ Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father. ⁵ To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

⁶ I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah’s grace, and turn to some other supposedly “Good News,” ⁷ which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah. ⁸ But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! ⁹ We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces “Good News” contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!

¹⁰ Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God’s approval! Or that I’m trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.

¹¹ Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product; ¹² because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it — it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah. ¹³ For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism — how I did my best to persecute God’s Messianic Community and destroy it; ¹⁴ and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.

¹⁵ But when God, who picked me out before I was born and called me by his grace, chose ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me, so that I might announce him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone; ¹⁷ and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek. ¹⁸ Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa’s acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks, ¹⁹ but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya‘akov the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!) ²¹ Next I went to Syria and Cilicia; ²² but in Y’hudah, the Messianic congregations didn’t even know what I looked like — ²³ they were only hearing the report, “The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy”; ²⁴ and they praised God for me.