Deuteronomy 12-26

Revised Geneva Translation

12 “These are the Ordinances and the Laws which you shall observe and do in the land which the LORD God of your fathers gives you to possess, as long as you live upon the Earth.

² “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree.

³ “Also, you shall overthrow their altars and break down their pillars and burn their groves with fire. And you shall cut down the graven images of their gods and abolish their names out of that place.

⁴ “You shall not do so to the LORD your God.

⁵ “But you shall seek the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of your tribes, to put His Name there, to dwell there. And to there you shall come.

⁶ “And you shall bring your Burnt Offerings there, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offering of your hands, and your vows, and your Free Offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep.

⁷ “And there you shall eat before the LORD your God. And you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to—you and your households—because the LORD your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not repeat all these things that we do here this day, every man doing whatever seems good to him in his own eyes.

⁹ “For you have not yet come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁰ “But when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God has given you to inherit, and He has given you rest from all your enemies all around, and you dwell in safety—

¹¹ “when there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause His name to dwell there—there shall you bring all that I command you: your Burnt Offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering of your hands and all your special vows which you vow to the LORD.

¹² “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your servants and your maidens and the Levite who is within your gates (for he has no part or inheritance with you).

¹³ “Be careful that you do not offer your Burnt Offerings in every place that you see.

¹⁴ “But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your Burnt Offerings. And there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵ “Nevertheless, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates—whatever your heart desires—according to the blessing of the LORD your God, which He had given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and of the deer.

¹⁶ “Only, you shall not eat the blood. Pour it upon the earth, as water.

¹⁷ “You may not eat the tithe of your corn within your gates, nor of your wine, nor of your oil, nor the firstborn of your cattle, nor of your sheep, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your Free Offerings, nor the offering of your hands.

¹⁸ “But you shall eat it before the LORD your God, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maid and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hand.

¹⁹ “Beware that you do not forsake the Levite, as long as you live upon the Earth.

²⁰ “When the LORD your God shall enlarge your border—as He has promised you—and you shall say, ‘I will eat flesh (because your heart longs to eat flesh), you may eat flesh, whatever your heart desires.

²¹ “If the place which the LORD your God has chosen to put His Name is far from you, then you shall kill from your bullocks and from your sheep which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you. And you shall eat within your gates, whatever your heart desires.

²² “But, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so shall you eat them. The unclean and the clean alike shall eat them.

²³ “Only, be sure that you do not eat the blood. For the blood is the life, and you may not eat the life with the flesh.

²⁴ “You shall not eat it. Pour it upon the earth as water.

²⁵ “You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

²⁶ “But, you shall take up your holy things which you have, and your vows, and come to the place which the LORD shall choose.

²⁷ “And you shall make your Burnt Offerings of the flesh, and of the blood, upon the Altar of the LORD your God. And the blood of your offerings shall be poured upon the Altar of the LORD your God. And you shall eat the flesh.

²⁸ “Hear and obey all these words which I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, forever, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God

²⁹ “and when the LORD your God shall destroy the nations before you, wherever you go to possess them. And you shall possess them and dwell in their land.

³⁰ “Beware, lest you be ensnared after them — after they are destroyed before you — and lest you ask after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, so that I may do likewise?’

³¹ “You shall not do so to the LORD your God. For they have done to their gods all abomination which the LORD hates. They have burned both their sons and their daughters with fire to their gods.

³² “Whatever I command you, be careful to do it. You shall add nothing to it or take anything from it.”

13 “If there arises among you a prophet (or a dreamer of dreams) and he gives you a sign or wonder —

² “and the sign or the wonder which he has told you comes to be — saying, ‘Let us go after other gods which you have not known. And let us serve them’,

³ “you shall not listen to the words of the prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God tests you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴ “You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and shall keep His Commandments, and obey His Voice. And you shall serve Him and cling to Him.

⁵ “But that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, he shall be killed, because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God (Who brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you out of the house of bondage) to thrust you out of the way in which the LORD your God Commanded you to walk. So shall you take the evil away forth from the midst of you.

⁶ “If your brother (the son of your mother) or your own son, or your daughter, or the wife in your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods (which you have not known, you nor your fathers)

⁷ “from the gods of the people who are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from the one end of the Earth to the other,

⁸ “you shall not yield to him or hear him. Nor shall your eye pity him or show mercy or keep him secret.

⁹ “But you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and then the hands of the people.

¹⁰ “And you shall stone him with stones, so that he dies — because he has gone about to thrust you away from the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage —

¹¹ “and so that all Israel may hear and fear and do no more any such wickedness as this among you.

¹² “If you shall hear it said concerning any of your cities which the LORD your God has given you to dwell in,

¹³ ‘Wicked men have gone out from among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known’,

¹⁴ “Then you shall seek and search and inquire diligently. And if true, and the thing certain that such an abomination has been committed among you,

¹⁵ “you shall surely kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword — destroy it utterly and all that is in it, and its cattle — with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶ “And you shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its streets and burn the city and all its spoil with fire — every bit —to the LORD your God. And it shall be rubble forever. It shall not be built again.

¹⁷ “And nothing of the damned thing shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His wrath and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you (as He has sworn to your fathers)

¹⁸ “when you shall obey the Voice of the LORD your God and keep all His Commandments which I command you this day, that you do that which is right in the Eyes of the LORD your God.”

14 “You are the children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make yourself bald between your eyes for the dead.

² “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. And the LORD has chosen you to be a precious people to Himself, above all the people who are upon the Earth.

³ “You shall eat no type of abomination.

⁴ “These are the beasts which you shall eat: beef, sheep, lamb, young goat, female goat,

⁵ “deer, gazelle, red deer, clean mountain goat, antelope, clean mountain sheep.

⁶ “And every beast that parts the hoof and divides the cleft into two claws and is of the beasts that chew the cud, that shall you eat.

⁷ “But these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that divide and split the hoof — the camel, the hare, the rock badger (for they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof) — they shall be unclean to you.

⁸ “Also, the swine, because he does not divide the hoof and does not chew the cud, shall be unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.

⁹ “These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall you eat.

¹⁰ “And whatever has no fins or scales, you shall not eat. It shall be unclean to you.

¹¹ “Of all clean birds you shall eat.

¹² “But these are those of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard,

¹³ “the hawk, the falcon, the kite (after their kind),

¹⁴ “any kind of raven,

¹⁵ “the ostrich, the night crow, the seagull, the hawk (after her kind),

¹⁶ “the little owl, the great owl, the chameleon,

¹⁷ “the pelican, the carrion vulture, nor the cormorant:

¹⁸ “the stork, the heron (in his kind), the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹ “And every creeping thing that flies shall be unclean to you. It shall not be eaten.

²⁰ “You may eat of all clean birds.

²¹ “You shall eat of nothing that dies alone. But you shall give it to the stranger that is within your gates, so that he may eat it. Or you may sell it to a stranger. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²² “You shall give the tithe of all the increase of your seed that comes forth from the field, year by year.

²³ “And you shall eat before the LORD your God (in the place which He shall choose to cause His Name to dwell) the tithe of your corn and of your wine and of your oil and of the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

²⁴ “And if the way is too long for you (so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is far from you where the LORD your God shall choose to set His Name, when the LORD your God shall bless you)

²⁵ “then you shall make it in money and take the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose.

²⁶ “And you shall bestow the money for whatever your heart desires — whether it be ox or sheep or wine or strong drink or whatever your heart desires — and shall eat it there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷ “And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates. For he has neither part nor inheritance with you.

²⁸ “At the end of three years, you shall bring forth all the tithes of your increase of the same year and lay it up within your gates.

²⁹ “Then, the Levite shall come, because he has no part or inheritance with you or the stranger or the fatherless or the widow who are within your gates. And he shall eat, and be filled, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

15 “At the term of seven years, you shall make a release.

² “And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall cancel the loan of his hand which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not ask for it again from his neighbor, nor from his brother. For the LORD’s release is proclaimed.

³ “You may require it from a stranger. But that which you have with your brother, your hand shall release,

⁴ “except when there shall be no poor with you. For the LORD shall bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, to possess it,

⁵ “so that you obey the Voice of the LORD your God, to observe and do all these Commandments which I command you this day.

⁶ “For the LORD your God has blessed you, as He has promised you. And you shall lend to many nations. But you yourself shall not borrow. And you shall reign over many nations. And they shall not reign over you.

⁷ “If one of your brothers with you is poor—within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you—you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.

⁸ “But you shall open your hand to him and shall sufficiently lend to him for his need which he has.

⁹ “Beware that there is not a wicked thought in your heart, to say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand’, and it grieves you to look on your poor brother. And you give him nothing. And he cries to the LORD against you, so that sin is in you.

¹⁰ “You shall give to him. And do not let it grieve your heart to give to him. For because of this the LORD your God shall bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.

¹¹ “Because there shall always be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.’

¹² “If your brother (a Hebrew man) sells himself to you, or a Hebrew woman, and serves you six years, in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

¹³ “And when you send him out free from you, you shalt not let him go away empty.

¹⁴ “You shall give him a liberal reward from your sheep and from your corn and from your wine. You shall give to him from that with which the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹⁵ “And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God delivered you. Therefore, I command you this thing today.

¹⁶ “And if he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you’, because he loves you and your house and because he does well with you,

¹⁷ “then you shall take an awl and pierce his ear through, against the door. And he shall be your servant forever. And you shall do likewise to your maid servant.

¹⁸ “Let it not grieve you when you let him go out free from you. For he has served you six years, the double worth of a hired servant, and the LORD your God shall bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹ “All the firstborn males that come from your cattle and from your sheep, you shall sanctify to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with your firstborn bullock or shear your firstborn sheep.

²⁰ “You shall eat it before the LORD your God, year by year, in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.

²¹ “But, if there is any blemish in it (it is lame or blind or has any serious fault), you shall not offer it to the LORD your God,

²² “You shall eat it within your gates, both the unclean and the clean, just as the gazelle and as the deer.

²³ “Only, you shall not drink its blood. Poor it upon the ground, as water.”

16 “You shall keep the month of Abib. And you shall celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God. For in the month of Abib, the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

² “You shall therefore offer the Passover to the LORD your God, of sheep and bullocks, in the place where the LORD shall choose to cause His Name to dwell.

³ “You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it (the Bread of Tribulation, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt, all the days of your life.

⁴ “And there shall be no leaven seen with you on all your coasts for seven days. Nor shall there remain until the morning any of the flesh which you offered the first day at evening.

⁵ “You may not offer the Passover within any of the gates which the LORD your God gives you.

⁶ “But, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place His Name, there you shall offer the Passover at evening, around the going down of the Sun, in the season that you came out of Egypt.

⁷ “And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, and shall return the next day and go to your tents.

⁸ “Six days shall you eat unleavened bread. And the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.

⁹ “You shall count out seven weeks and shall begin to count the seven weeks when you begin to put the sickle to the corn.

¹⁰ “And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God, a free gift of your hand, which you shall give to the LORD your God as the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹¹ “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God — you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maid and the Levite who is within your gates and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you — in the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place His Name.

¹² “And you shall remember that you were a servant in Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe and do these Ordinances.

¹³ “You shall observe the Feast of the Tabernacles for seven days, after you have gathered in your corn, and your wine.

¹⁴ “And you shall rejoice in your feast — you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maid and the Levite and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates.

¹⁵ “Seven days shall you keep a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD shall choose, when the LORD your God shall bless you in all your increase and in all the works of your hands. You shall, indeed, be glad.

¹⁶ “Three times in the year shall all the males appear before the LORD your God, in the place which He shall choose: at the Feast of the Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of the Weeks and at the Feast of the Tabernacle. And they shall not appear before the LORD empty,

¹⁷ “every man according to the gift of his hand and according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.

¹⁸ “You shall make yourself judges and officers in all your cities which the LORD your God gives you, throughout the tribes. And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹ “Do not pervert the Law or show partiality or take reward. For the reward blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the just.

²⁰ “That which is just and right you shall follow, so that you may live and possess the land which the LORD your God gives you.

²¹ “You shall plant for yourself no grove of any trees near the Altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make yourself.

²² “You shall set up for yourself no pillar (which the LORD your God hates).

17 “You shall offer to the LORD your God no bullock or sheep in which is a blemish or any defect. For that is an abomination to the LORD your God.

² “If there is found among you in any of your cities which the LORD your God gives you, man or woman who has worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD your God in transgressing His Covenant

³ “and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them (as the Sun or the Moon or any of the host of Heaven which I have not commanded)

⁴ “and it is told to you and you have heard it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if true, the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel,

⁵ “then you shall bring forth to your gates that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing (man or woman) and shall stone them with stones until they die.

⁶ “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he who is worthy of death die. At the mouth of one witness, he shall not die.

⁷ “The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him, to kill him, and then the hands of all the people. Thus you shall take the wicked away from among you.

⁸ “If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between plague and plague, in the matter of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God shall choose.

⁹ “And you shall come to the priests of the Levites, and to the Judge that shall be in those days and ask. And they shall show you the sentence of judgment.

¹⁰ “And you shall do according to that thing which they of that place (which the LORD has chosen) show you. And you shall do according to all that they instruct you.

¹¹ “According to the Law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, shall you do. You shall not turn away from the thing which they shall show you, to the right hand or the left.

¹² “And that man who will do presumptuously, not obeying the priest who stands before the LORD your God (to minister there) or to the judge, that man shall die. And you shall take away evil from Israel.

¹³ “So all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously.

¹⁴ “When you shall come to the land which the LORD your God gives you and shall possess it and dwell in it, if thou say, ‘I will set a king over me, just as all the nations that are around me’,

¹⁵ “you shall make him king over you whom the LORD your God shall choose. From among your brothers shall you make a king over yourselves. You shall not set a stranger over yourself who is not your brother.

¹⁶ “In any case, he shall not prepare many horses for himself, nor bring the people back to Egypt to increase the number of horses, seeing the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never go that way again’.

¹⁷ “Nor shall he take many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. Nor shall he gather much silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ “And when he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write himself this Law, repeated in a book by the Priest of the Levites.

¹⁹ “And it shall be with him. And he shall read it all days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this Law and to do these Ordinances,

²⁰ “so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers’ and that he does not turn to the right hand or to the left from the Commandment, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom (he and his sons) in the midst of Israel.”

18 “The priests of the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His inheritance.

² “Therefore, they shall have no inheritance among their brothers. The LORD is their inheritance, as He has said to them.

³ “And this shall be the priest’s duty from the people: that those who offer sacrifice, whether bullock or sheep, shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks and the stomach.

⁴ “The firstfruits of your corn, of your wine, of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep you shall give him.

⁵ “For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Name of the LORD, he and his sons forever.

⁶ “Also, when a Levite shall come out of any of your cities, out of all Israel, where he remained, and comes with all the desire of his heart to the place which the LORD shall choose,

⁷ “He shall then minister in the Name of the LORD his God, as all his brothers (the Levites) who remain there before the LORD.

⁸ “They shall have similar portions to eat besides that which comes from the sale of his inheritance.

⁹ “When you shall come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

¹⁰ “Let no one be found among you who makes his son or his daughter into a human sacrifice, who uses witchcraft, is a soothsayer, an interpreter of omens or a sorcerer,

¹¹ “a conjurer who counsels with spirits, a medium, or one who asks counsel from the dead.

¹² “For all who do such things are an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations, the LORD your God casts them out before you.

¹³ “Therefore, you shall be upright with the LORD your God.

¹⁴ “For these nations, which you shall possess, obey soothsayers and sorcerers. As for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵ “The LORD your God will raise up to you a Prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. You shall listen to him,

¹⁶ “according to all that you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me hear the Voice of my LORD God no more, nor see this great fire anymore, so that I do not die.’

¹⁷ “And the LORD said to me, ‘They have well spoken.

¹⁸ ‘I will raise up a Prophet for them like you, from among their brothers. And I will put My Words in his mouth. And he shall speak to all those whom I shall Command him.

¹⁹ ‘And whoever will not listen to 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 whom I have not Commanded to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’

²¹ “And if you think in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’

²² “When a prophet speaks in the Name of the LORD, if the thing does not follow or happen, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.”

19 “When the LORD your God shall root out the nations whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

² “you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.

³ “You shall prepare the way for yourself and divide the coasts of the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit into three parts, so that every manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “This also is the cause for which the manslayer shall flee there and live: whoever kills his neighbor ignorantly and did not hate him in time past —

⁵ “as he who goes to the forest with his neighbor to cut wood and his hand strikes with the axe to cut down the tree, if the head slips from the helve and hits his neighbor so that he dies—the same shall flee to one of the cities and live;

⁶ “lest the avenger of the blood follows after the manslayer while his heart is hot and overtakes him (because the way is long) and kills him, although he is not worthy of death because he did not hate him in time past.

⁷ “Therefore I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “And when the LORD your God enlarges your coasts (as He has sworn to your fathers) and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers

⁹ “(if you keep all these Commandments, to do them, which I command you this day: that you love the LORD your God and walk in His ways forever), then you shall add three more cities for yourselves besides those three,

¹⁰ “so that no innocent blood is shed within your land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit (lest blood be upon you).

¹¹ “But, if a man hates his neighbor and lays in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes any man so that he dies and flee to any of these cities,

¹² “then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there and deliver him to the hands of the avenger of the blood, so that he may die.

¹³ “Your eye shall not spare him, but you shall put away the cry of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴ “You shall not remove your neighbor’s border, which those of old time have set in your inheritance, so that you shall inherit in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.

¹⁵ “One witness shall not rise against a man for any trespass, or for any sin, or for any fault in which he offends. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

¹⁶ “If a false witness rises up against a man to accuse him of trespass,

¹⁷ “then both men who strive together shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.

¹⁸ “And the judges shall make diligent inquisition. And if the witness is found false (has given false witness against his brother),

¹⁹ “then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall take away evil from among you.

²⁰ “And the rest shall hear and fear and shall no longer commit any such wickedness among you.

²¹ “Therefore, your eye shall have no compassion: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

20 “When you shall go forth to war against your enemies and shall see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them. For the LORD your God is with you, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

² “And when you have come near the battle, then the Priest shall come forth to speak to the people,

³ “and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel. You have come this day to battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts faint or fear or tremble or dread them.

⁴ ‘For the LORD your God goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

⁵ “And let the officers speak to the people, saying, ‘Whatever man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it, let him go and return to his house, lest he dies in the battle and another man dedicates it.

⁶ ‘And whatever man who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of the fruit, let him go back to his house, lest he dies in the battle and another eats the fruit.

⁷ ‘And whatever man who has betrothed a wife and has not yet married her, let him go back to his house, lest he die in battle and another man marries her.’

⁸ “And let the officers speak further to the people, and say, ‘Whoever is afraid and faint-hearted, let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart faints like his heart.’

⁹ “And after the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, they shall make captains of the army to govern the people.

¹⁰ “When you come near to a city, to fight against it, you shall offer it peace.

¹¹ “And if it answers you peaceably, and opens to you, then let all the people who are found in it be tributaries to you and serve you.

¹² “But if it will make no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

¹³ “And the LORD your God shall deliver it into your hands. And you shall strike all its males with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ “But the women and the children and the cattle and all that is in the city, all its spoil you shall take for yourself. And you shall eat the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you.

¹⁵ “Thus shall you do to all the cities which are far away from you, which are not of the cities of these nations here.

¹⁶ “But of the cities of this people, which the LORD your God shall give you to inherit, you shall save no person alive.

¹⁷ “But you shall utterly destroy them—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—as the LORD your God has Commanded you,

¹⁸ “so that they do not teach you to follow after all their abominations which they have done for their gods, that you should sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹ “When you have besieged a city for a long time, and made war against it, to take it, do not destroy its trees by striking them with an axe. If you may eat from them, then you shall not cut them down to further yourself in the siege, (for the tree of the field is man’s sustenance).

²⁰ “Only those trees which you know are not for food shall you destroy and cut down and make forts against the city that makes war with you, until you subdue it.”

21 “If one is found killed in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field (it is not known who has killed him),

² “then your elders and your judges shall come forth and measure to the cities that are around him who is killed.

³ “And let the elders of that city which is next to the killed man take a heifer that has not been put to labor or drawn the yoke.

⁴ “And let the elders of that city bring the heifer to a stony valley, which is neither plowed nor sown, and break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

⁵ “Also the priests, the sons of Levi (whom the LORD your God has chosen to minister, and to bless in the Name of the LORD) shall come forth. And by their word shall all strife and plague be settled.

⁶ “And all the elders of that city that came near the killed man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.

⁷ “And they shall testify, and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.

⁸ ‘O LORD, be merciful to Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed. And lay no innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And the blood shall be forgiven them.

⁹ “So shall you take away the cry of innocent blood from you when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰ “When you shall go to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God shall deliver them into your hands, and you shall take them captives,

¹¹ “and shall see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her, and would take her for your wife,

¹² “then you shall bring her home to your house. And she shall shave her head and trim her nails.

¹³ “And she shall change the garment that she was taken in. And she shall remain in your house and mourn her father and her mother for a month. And after that, you shall go in to her, and marry her. And she shall be your wife.

¹⁴ “And if you do not favor her, then you may let her go where she will. But you shall not sell her for money or make merchandise of her, because you have humbled her.

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives—one loved and another hated—and they have born him children (both the loved and also the hated), if the firstborn is the son of the hated,

¹⁶ “then, when the time comes that he appoints his sons to be heirs of that which he has, 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 the son of the hated as the firstborn and give him double portion from all that he has. For he is the first of his strength, and to him belongs the right of firstborn.

¹⁸ “If any man has a son that is stubborn and disobedient, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother. And they have chastened him. And he would not obey them.

¹⁹ “Then his father and his mother shall take him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place where he dwells,

²⁰ “and shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and disobedient. He will not obey our admonition. He is a rioter and a drunkard.’

²¹ “Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones until death. So you shall take away evil from among you, so that all Israel may hear it and fear.

²² “If a man also has committed a trespass worthy of death, and is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

²³ “his body shall not remain upon the tree all night. But you shall bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him who is hanged. Therefore, do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit.”

22 “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and withdraw yourself from them. Bring them back to your brother.

² “And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it into your house. And it shall remain with you until your brother seeks after it. Then you shall deliver it back to him.

³ “You shall do likewise with his donkey. And so shall you do with his clothing, and with all lost things of your brother which he has lost. If you have found them, you shall not hide them.

⁴ “You shall not see your brother’s donkey, or his ox, fall down on the way and withdraw yourself from them. Lift them up with him.

⁵ “The woman shall not wear that which pertains to the man, nor shall a man put on woman’s clothing. For all who do so are abomination to the LORD your God.

⁶ “If you find a bird’s nest in the way, in any tree, or on the ground (young or eggs) and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.

⁷ “If you must, let the mother go and take the young for yourself, so that you may prosper and prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet on your roof, so that you do not shed blood upon your house if any man falls from there.

⁹ “You shall not sow your vineyard with diverse kinds of seeds, lest you defile the increase of the seed which you have sown, and the fruit of the vineyard.

¹⁰ “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹ “You shall not wear a mixed weave, such as wool and linen together.

¹² “You shall make fringes for yourself upon the four quarters of your covering with which you cover yourself.

¹³ “If a man takes a wife, and after he has lain with her, hates her,

¹⁴ “and then says slanderous things about her, brings a bad name upon her, and says, ‘I took this wife, and when I came to her, I did not find her to be a maid’,

¹⁵ “then the father of the maid and her mother shall take and bring the signs of the maid’s virginity to the elders of the city, to the gate.

¹⁶ “And the maid’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife and he hates her.

¹⁷ ‘And lo, he says slanderous things about her, saying, “I did not find your daughter to be a maid.” Lo, these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸ “Then the elders of the city shall take that man and discipline him,

¹⁹ “and shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the maid, because he has brought a bad name upon a maid of Israel. And she shall be his wife. And he may not divorce her the rest of his life.

²⁰ “But if this thing is true, meaning the maid is not found to be a virgin,

²¹ “then they shall bring forth the maid to the door of her father’s house. And the men of her city shall stone her with stones until death. For she has worked folly in Israel by playing the whore in her father’s house. So you shall put evil away from among you.

²² “If a man is found lying with a woman who is married to a man, then both of them shall die, the man who lays with the wife and the wife. So you shall put away evil from Israel.

²³ “If a maid is engaged to a husband, and a man finds her in the town and lies with her,

²⁴ “then you shall bring them both out to the gates of the same city and shall stone them with stones until death, the maid because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall put away evil from among you.

²⁵ “But if a man finds an engaged maid in the field and forces her, and lies with her, then the man who lays with her shall die alone:

²⁶ “And you shall do nothing to the maid, because there is in the maid no cause for death. For as when a man rises against his neighbor and mortally wounds him, so is this matter.

²⁷ “For he found her in the fields, the engaged maid cried out, and there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “If a man finds a maid who is not engaged, and takes her and lies with her, and they are found,

²⁹ “then the man who lays with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the maid’s father. And she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He cannot divorce her the rest of his life.

³⁰ “No man shall take his father’s wife or shall uncover his father’s extremity.”

23 “No one who is hurt by crushing, or who has had his private parts cut off, shall enter into the Congregation of the LORD.

² “A bastard shall not enter into the Congregation of the LORD. Up to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the Congregation of the LORD.

³ “The Ammonites and the Moabites shall not enter into the Congregation of the LORD. Up to their tenth generation they shall not enter into the Congregation of the LORD, forever,

⁴ “because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam — the son of Beor, of Pethor in Aram-naharaim — against you, to curse you.

⁵ “Nevertheless, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam. But the LORD your God turned the curse to a blessing for you because the LORD your God loved you.

⁶ “You shall not seek their peace, nor their prosperity all your days, forever.

⁷ “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Nor shall you abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land.

⁸ The children who are begotten of those in their third generation shall enter into the Congregation of the LORD.

⁹ “When you go out with the army against your enemies, then keep yourself from all wickedness.

¹⁰ “If there is anyone among you who is unclean by that which comes to him by night, he shall go out of the camp, and shall not enter the camp.

¹¹ “But at evening, he shall wash with water. And when the Sun is down, he shall enter the camp.

¹² “You shall also have a place outside the camp to which you shall go out.

¹³ “And you shall have an implement among your weapons. And when you would sit down outside, you shall dig with it. And upon returning, you shall cover your excrements.

¹⁴ “For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give you your enemies before you. Therefore, your camp shall be holy, so that He sees no filthy thing in you, and turn away from you.

¹⁵ “You shall not deliver the servant to his master, who has escaped from his master to you.

¹⁶ “He shall dwell with you, amongxus you, in whatever place he shall choose, in one of your cities he likes best. You shall not trouble him.

¹⁷ “There shall be no whore from the daughters of Israel. Nor shall there be a whore keeper from the sons of Israel.

¹⁸ “You shall bring neither the price of a whore nor the price of a dog into the House of the LORD your God, for any vow. For both of these are abomination to the LORD your God.

¹⁹ “You shall not charge interest to your brother — on money, on meat, on anything that may be lent with interest.

²⁰ “You may lend with interest to a stranger. But you shall not lend with interest to your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you set your hand to in the land to which you go to possess.

²¹ “When you shall vow a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not be slow to pay it. For the LORD your God will surely require it of you. And so it would be sin to you.

²² “But when you abstain from vowing, it shall be no sin to you.

²³ “That which has gone out of your lips you shall keep and perform, as you have vowed it willingly to the LORD your God. You have spoken it with your mouth.

²⁴ “When you come to your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes at your pleasure, as much as you will. But you shall put none in your container.

²⁵ “When you come to your neighbor’s corn, you may pluck the ears with your hand. But you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor’s corn.”

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if so be she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some filthiness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house.

² “And when she has departed out of his house, and gone her way, and marries another man —

³ “if the latter husband hates her and writes her a letter of divorcement and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man who took her for his wife dies —

⁴ “her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled. For that is abomination in the sight of the LORD. And you shall not cause the land to sin which the LORD your God gives you to inherit.

⁵ “When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go to war. Nor shall he be charged with any business, but shall be free at home for one year and rejoice with his wife whom he has taken.

⁶ “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone to pledge. For this gage is his living.

⁷ “If any man is found stealing any of his brothers from the children of Israel, and makes merchandise of him, or sells him, that thief shall die. So shall you put evil away from among you.

⁸ “Be careful of the plague of leprosy, so that you observe diligently and do according to all that the priests of the Levites shall teach you. Be careful you do as I commanded them.

⁹ “Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way, after you had come out of Egypt.

¹⁰ “When you shall lend your neighbor anything, you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge.

¹¹ “But you shall stand outside. And the man who borrowed it from you shall bring the pledge out of the doors to you.

¹² “Furthermore, if it is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge,

¹³ “but you shall restore to him the pledge when the Sun goes down, so that he may sleep in his clothes and bless you. And it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is needy and poor, from your brothers or from the stranger who is in your land within your gates.

¹⁵ “You shall give him his wages for his day and the Sun shall not go down upon it (for he is poor and with such sustains his life), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it is sin to you.

¹⁶ “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children put to death for the fathers. But every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷ “You shall not pervert the right of the stranger or of the fatherless, nor take a widow’s clothes to pledge.

¹⁸ “But remember that you were a servant in Egypt, and how the LORD your God delivered you from there. Therefore, I command you to do this thing.

¹⁹ “When you cut down your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to fetch it. It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the works of your hands.

²⁰ “When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

²¹ “When you gather your vineyard, you shall not glean afterward. They shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

²² “And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this thing.”

25 “When there shall be strife between men, and they shall come to judgment, and sentence shall be given upon them, and the righteous shall be justified, and the wicked condemned,

² “then, if the wicked is worthy to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face, according to his trespass, to a certain number.

³ “Forty shall he cause him to have, and not past, lest if he should exceed and beat him above that with many stripes, your brother should be dishonored.

⁴ “You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.

⁵ “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside, to a stranger. But, his kinsman shall go in to her, and take her to wife, and do the kinsman’s office to her.

⁶ “And the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not put out of Israel.

⁷ “And if the man will not take his kinswoman, then let his kinswoman go up to the gate, to the elders, and say, ‘My kinsman refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not do the office of a kinsman to me.’

⁸ “Then the elders of the city shall call him and commune with him. If he stands and says, ‘I will not take her’,

⁹ “then his kinswoman shall come to him in the presence of the elders and loosen his shoe from his foot and spit in his face and answer, and say, ‘So shall it be done to that man who will not build up his brother’s house.’

¹⁰ “And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him whose shoe is put off.’

¹¹ “When men strive together, one with another, if the wife of one tries to save her husband from the hand of him who strikes him by putting forth her hand and taking him by his privates,

¹² “then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall not spare her.

¹³ “You shall not have two kinds of weights in your bag, a great and a small.

¹⁴ “Nor shall you have diverse measures, a great and a small, in your house.

¹⁵ “You shall have a right and just weight. A perfect and a just measure shall you have, so that your days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁶ “For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are abomination to the LORD your God.

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you had come out of Egypt —

¹⁸ “how he met you on the way and struck the last of you, all who were feeble behind you—when you were faint and weary. And he did not fear God.

¹⁹ “Therefore, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, to possess it, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven. Do not forget.”

26 “Also, when you shall come into the land which the LORD your God gives you for inheritance, and shall possess it, and dwell in it,

² “then you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the earth and bring it out of the land that the LORD your God gives you and put it in a basket and go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to place his Name there.

³ “And you shall come to the Priest appointed in those days and say to him, ‘This day, I acknowledge to the LORD your God that I have come to the country which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’

⁴ “Then the Priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.

⁵ “And you shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ‘A Syrian, my father, being ready to perish, went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a small company, and there grew to a great nation, mighty and full of people.

⁶ ‘And the Egyptians troubled us, and afflicted us, and laid cruel bondage upon us.

⁷ ‘But when we cried to the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice and looked on our adversity, and on our labor, and on our oppression.

⁸ ‘And the LORD brought us out of Egypt in a mighty Hand and outstretched Arm, with great terribleness, both in signs and wonders.

⁹ ‘And He has brought us into this place and has given us this land, a land that flows with milk and honey.

¹⁰ ‘And now, lo, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.

¹¹ “And you shall rejoice in all the good things which the LORD your God has given to you and to your household, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

¹² “When you have ended tithing all the tithes of your increase in the third year (the year of tithing) —and have given it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be satisfied—

¹³ “then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have brought the hallowed thing out of my house and have also given it to the Levites, to the strangers, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all your Commandments which You have commanded me. I have transgressed none of the Commandments, nor forgotten.

¹⁴ ‘I have not eaten from it in my mourning, nor allowed anything to perish through uncleanness, nor given anything from it for the dead. I have obeyed the Voice of the LORD my God. I have followed all that You have Commanded me.

¹⁵ ‘Look down from Your holy habitation, from Heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the land which You have given us (as You swore to our fathers) the land that flows with milk and honey.’

¹⁶ “This day, the LORD your God Commands you to do these Ordinances and Laws. Keep them, therefore, and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹⁷ “You have set up the LORD this day to be your God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His Ordinances and His Commandments and His Laws, and to obey His Voice.

¹⁸ “And the LORD has set you up this day to be a precious people to Him (as He has promised you), so that you should keep all His Commandments

¹⁹ “And He makes you high above all nations which He has made—in praise and in name and in glory—so that you should be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He has said.”