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Deuteronomy 12-18
English Standard Version

The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship

12 (A)“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, (B)all the days that you live on the earth. 2 (C)You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, (D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces (E)their pillars and burn their (F)Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and (G)destroy their name out of that place. 4 (H)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. 5 But you shall seek (I)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation[a] there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, (J)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the (K)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And (L)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and (M)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, (N)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not as yet come to (O)the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But when (P)you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, (Q)and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to (R)the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, (S)your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. 12 And (T)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since (U)he has no portion or inheritance with you. 13 (V)Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, 14 but at (W)the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, (X)according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. (Y)The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. 16 (Z)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your towns (AA)the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, 18 but (AB)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in (AC)the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And (AD)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. 19 (AE)Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 “When the Lord your God (AF)enlarges your territory, (AG)as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. 21 If (AH)the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, (AI)then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. 22 Just (AJ)as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. (AK)The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. 23 (AL)Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, (AM)for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, (AN)that all may go well with you and with your children after you, (AO)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 But the (AP)holy things that are due from you, and (AQ)your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to (AR)the place that the Lord will choose, 27 and (AS)offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. 28 Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, (AT)that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Warning Against Idolatry

29 “When (AU)the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 take care (AV)that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ 31 (AW)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every (AX)abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for (AY)they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 [b] “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. (AZ)You shall not add to it or take from it.

13 “If a prophet or (BA)a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and (BB)the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘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 that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God (BC)is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall (BD)walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and (BE)hold fast to him. 5 But (BF)that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. (BG)So you shall purge the evil[c] from your midst.

6 (BH)“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or (BI)the wife you embrace[d] or your friend (BJ)who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ (BK)which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some (BL)of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall (BM)not yield to him or listen to him, nor (BN)shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. (BO)Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 (BP)You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And (BQ)all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain (BR)worthless fellows have gone out 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 inquire and make search and ask (BS)diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction,[e] all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and (BT)burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a (BU)heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17 (BV)None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, (BW)that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, (BX)as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, (BY)keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Clean and Unclean Food

14 “You are (BZ)the sons of the Lord your God. (CA)You shall not cut yourselves or make any (CB)baldness on your foreheads for the dead. 2 For (CC)you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 (CD)“You shall not eat any abomination. 4 (CE)These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex,[f] the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the (CF)rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and (CG)their carcasses you shall not touch.

9 “Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat all clean birds. 12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle,[g] the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13 the kite, the falcon 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 short-eared owl, the barn owl 17 and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 All clean winged things you may eat.

21 (CH)“You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For (CI)you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

(CJ)“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Tithes

22 (CK)“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, (CL)you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, (CM)and the firstborn of your herd and flock, (CN)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 the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because (CO)the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And (CP)you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect (CQ)the Levite who is within your towns, for (CR)he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28 (CS)“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because (CT)he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that (CU)the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

The Sabbatical Year

15 “At the end of (CV)every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. 3 (CW)Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 (CX)But there will be no poor among you; (CY)for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 (CZ)if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, (DA)as he promised you, and (DB)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and (DC)you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, (DD)you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but (DE)you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your (DF)eye look grudgingly[h] on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he (DG)cry to the Lord against you, and (DH)you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and (DI)your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because (DJ)for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For (DK)there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, (DL)‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

12 (DM)“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold[i] to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. (DN)As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 (DO)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But (DP)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, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave[j] forever. And to your female slave[k] you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 (DQ)“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 (DR)You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21 (DS)But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. (DT)The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 (DU)Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Passover

16 “Observe the (DV)month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for (DW)in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or (DX)the herd, (DY)at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. (DZ)Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt (EA)in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 (EB)No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, (EC)nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For (ED)six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be (EE)a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

The Feast of Weeks

9 (EF)“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep (EG)the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with (EH)the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give (EI)as the Lord your God blesses you. 11 And (EJ)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. 12 (EK)You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The Feast of Booths

13 (EL)“You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 (EM)You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. 15 For (EN)seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

16 (EO)“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. (EP)They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man (EQ)shall give as he is able, (ER)according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

Justice

18 “You shall appoint (ES)judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 (ET)You shall not pervert justice. (EU)You shall not show partiality, (EV)and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

21 “You shall not plant any tree as (EW)an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

17 (EX)“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.

2 (EY)“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, (EZ)in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or (FA)the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, (FB)which I have forbidden, 4 and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire (FC)diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you (FD)shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. 6 (FE)On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 (FF)The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So (FG)you shall purge[l] the evil[m] from your midst.

Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

8 “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to (FH)the place that the Lord your God will choose. 9 (FI)And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and (FJ)they shall declare to you the decision. 10 Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. 11 According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. 12 The man who (FK)acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest (FL)who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So (FM)you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people (FN)shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.

Laws Concerning Israel's Kings

14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, (FO)‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you (FP)whom the Lord your God will choose. One (FQ)from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many (FR)horses for himself or cause the people (FS)to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, (FT)‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he (FU)shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, (FV)nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, (FW)he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, (FX)approved by[n] the Levitical priests. 19 And (FY)it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, (FZ)that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he (GA)may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, (GB)so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Provision for Priests and Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, (GC)shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They (GD)shall eat the Lord's food offerings[o] as their[p] inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. 3 And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: (GE)they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4 (GF)The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes (GG)to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

6 “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, (GH)where he lives—and he may come when he desires[q]—(GI)to the place that the Lord will choose, 7 and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, (GJ)like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, 8 then he may have equal (GK)portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.[r]

Abominable Practices

9 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, (GL)you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone (GM)who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,[s] anyone who (GN)practices divination or (GO)tells fortunes or interprets omens, or (GP)a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or (GQ)a medium or a necromancer or (GR)one who inquires of the dead, 12 (GS)for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And (GT)because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

A New Prophet like Moses

15 (GU)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb (GV)on the day of the assembly, when you said, (GW)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, (GX)‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 (GY)I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. (GZ)And I will put my words in his mouth, and (HA)he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 (HB)And whoever will (HC)not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 (HD)But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or[t] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 (HE)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; (HF)the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 12:5 Or name as its habitation
  2. Deuteronomy 12:32 Ch 13:1 in Hebrew
  3. Deuteronomy 13:5 Or evil person
  4. Deuteronomy 13:6 Hebrew the wife of your bosom
  5. Deuteronomy 13:15 That is, setting apart (devoting) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
  6. Deuteronomy 14:5 Or addax
  7. Deuteronomy 14:12 The identity of many of these birds is uncertain
  8. Deuteronomy 15:9 Or be evil; also verse 10
  9. Deuteronomy 15:12 Or sells himself
  10. Deuteronomy 15:17 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
  11. Deuteronomy 15:17 Or servant
  12. Deuteronomy 17:7 Septuagint drive out; also verse 12
  13. Deuteronomy 17:7 Or evil person; also verse 12
  14. Deuteronomy 17:18 Hebrew from before
  15. Deuteronomy 18:1 Or the offerings by fire to the Lord
  16. Deuteronomy 18:1 Hebrew his
  17. Deuteronomy 18:6 Or lives—if he comes enthusiastically
  18. Deuteronomy 18:8 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  19. Deuteronomy 18:10 Hebrew makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire
  20. Deuteronomy 18:20 Or and
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Deuteronomy 12-18
New International Version

The One Place of Worship

12 These are the decrees(A) and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land.(B) 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains,(C) on the hills and under every spreading tree,(D) where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash(E) their sacred stones and burn(F) their Asherah(G) poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names(H) from those places.

4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.(I) 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name(J) there for his dwelling.(K) To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes(L) and special gifts, what you have vowed(M) to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.(N) 7 There, in the presence(O) of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice(P) in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit,(Q) 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place(R) and the inheritance(S) the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving(T) you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest(U) from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11 Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name(V)—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord.(W) 12 And there rejoice(X) before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites(Y) from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance(Z) of their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.(AA) 14 Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose(AB) in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.

15 Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer,(AC) according to the blessing the Lord your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. 16 But you must not eat the blood;(AD) pour(AE) it out on the ground like water.(AF) 17 You must not eat in your own towns the tithe(AG) of your grain and new wine and olive oil,(AH) or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give,(AI) or your freewill offerings or special gifts.(AJ) 18 Instead, you are to eat(AK) them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose(AL)—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns—and you are to rejoice(AM) before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to. 19 Be careful not to neglect the Levites(AN) as long as you live in your land.(AO)

20 When the Lord your God has enlarged your territory(AP) as he promised(AQ) you, and you crave meat(AR) and say, “I would like some meat,” then you may eat as much of it as you want. 21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his Name(AS) is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.(AT) 22 Eat them as you would gazelle or deer.(AU) Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. 23 But be sure you do not eat the blood,(AV) because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.(AW) 24 You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.(AX) 25 Do not eat it, so that it may go well(AY) with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right(AZ) in the eyes of the Lord.

26 But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give,(BA) and go to the place the Lord will choose. 27 Present your burnt offerings(BB) on the altar of the Lord your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat(BC) the meat. 28 Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well(BD) with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

29 The Lord your God will cut off(BE) before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land,(BF) 30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared(BG) by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.”(BH) 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates.(BI) They even burn their sons(BJ) and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.(BK)

32 See that you do all I command you; do not add(BL) to it or take away from it.[a]

Worshiping Other Gods

13 [b]If a prophet,(BM) or one who foretells by dreams,(BN) appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign(BO) or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods”(BP) (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet(BQ) or dreamer.(BR) The Lord your God is testing(BS) you to find out whether you love(BT) him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow,(BU) and him you must revere.(BV) Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast(BW) to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death(BX) for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn(BY) you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil(BZ) from among you.

6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices(CA) you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”(CB) (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield(CC) to them or listen to them. Show them no pity.(CD) Do not spare them or shield them. 9 You must certainly put them to death.(CE) Your hand(CF) must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away(CG) from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid,(CH) and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in 13 that troublemakers(CI) have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), 14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly.(CJ) And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,(CK) 15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely,[c](CL) both its people and its livestock.(CM) 16 You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town(CN) and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.(CO) That town is to remain a ruin(CP) forever, never to be rebuilt, 17 and none of the condemned things[d] are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger,(CQ) will show you mercy,(CR) and will have compassion(CS) on you. He will increase your numbers,(CT) as he promised(CU) on oath to your ancestors— 18 because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right(CV) in his eyes.

Clean and Unclean Food(CW)

14 You are the children(CX) of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 2 for you are a people holy(CY) to the Lord your God.(CZ) Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.(DA)

3 Do not eat any detestable thing.(DB) 4 These are the animals you may eat:(DC) the ox, the sheep, the goat,(DD) 5 the deer,(DE) the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat,(DF) the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.[e] 6 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 7 However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. 8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.(DG)

9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.

11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind(DH) of falcon,(DI) 14 any kind of raven,(DJ) 15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the desert owl,(DK) the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

19 All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.(DL)

21 Do not eat anything you find already dead.(DM) You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.(DN)

Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(DO)

Tithes

22 Be sure to set aside a tenth(DP) of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat(DQ) the tithe of your grain, new wine(DR) and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,(DS) so that you may learn(DT) to revere(DU) the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange(DV) your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink,(DW) or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.(DX) 27 And do not neglect the Levites(DY) living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.(DZ)

28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes(EA) of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,(EB) 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment(EC) or inheritance(ED) of their own) and the foreigners,(EE) the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied,(EF) and so that the Lord your God may bless(EG) you in all the work of your hands.

The Year for Canceling Debts(EH)

15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.(EI) 2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner,(EJ) but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. 4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless(EK) you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow(EL) all these commands I am giving you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.(EM)

7 If anyone is poor(EN) among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted(EO) toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded(EP) and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts,(EQ) is near,” so that you do not show ill will(ER) toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.(ES) 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart;(ET) then because of this the Lord your God will bless(EU) you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people(EV) in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.(EW)

Freeing Servants(EX)(EY)

12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.(EZ) 13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor(FA) and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves(FB) in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.(FC) That is why I give you this command today.

16 But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.

18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

The Firstborn Animals

19 Set apart for the Lord(FD) your God every firstborn male(FE) of your herds and flocks.(FF) Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.(FG) 20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose.(FH) 21 If an animal has a defect,(FI) is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.(FJ) 22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.(FK) 23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.(FL)

The Passover(FM)

16 Observe the month of Aviv(FN) and celebrate the Passover(FO) of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name.(FP) 3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction,(FQ) because you left Egypt in haste(FR)—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.(FS) 4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening(FT) of the first day remain until morning.(FU)

5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary[f](FV) of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast(FW) it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly(FX) to the Lord your God and do no work.(FY)

The Festival of Weeks(FZ)

9 Count off seven weeks(GA) from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.(GB) 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice(GC) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name(GD)—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites(GE) in your towns, and the foreigners,(GF) the fatherless and the widows living among you.(GG) 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,(GH) and follow carefully these decrees.

The Festival of Tabernacles(GI)

13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor(GJ) and your winepress.(GK) 14 Be joyful(GL) at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy(GM) will be complete.

16 Three times a year all your men must appear(GN) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread,(GO) the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.(GP) No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:(GQ) 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

Judges

18 Appoint judges(GR) and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.(GS) 19 Do not pervert justice(GT) or show partiality.(GU) Do not accept a bribe,(GV) for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Worshiping Other Gods

21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole(GW) beside the altar you build to the Lord your God,(GX) 22 and do not erect a sacred stone,(GY) for these the Lord your God hates.

17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect(GZ) or flaw in it, for that would be detestable(HA) to him.(HB)

2 If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant,(HC) 3 and contrary to my command(HD) has worshiped other gods,(HE) bowing down to them or to the sun(HF) or the moon or the stars in the sky,(HG) 4 and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true(HH) and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,(HI) 5 take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.(HJ) 6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.(HK) 7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death,(HL) and then the hands of all the people.(HM) You must purge the evil(HN) from among you.

Law Courts

8 If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge(HO)—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults(HP)—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose.(HQ) 9 Go to the Levitical(HR) priests and to the judge(HS) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.(HT) 10 You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. 11 Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.(HU) 12 Anyone who shows contempt(HV) for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering(HW) there to the Lord your God is to be put to death.(HX) You must purge the evil from Israel.(HY) 13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.(HZ)

The King

14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession(IA) of it and settled in it,(IB) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”(IC) 15 be sure to appoint(ID) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.(IE) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses(IF) for himself(IG) or make the people return to Egypt(IH) to get more of them,(II) for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”(IJ) 17 He must not take many wives,(IK) or his heart will be led astray.(IL) He must not accumulate(IM) large amounts of silver and gold.(IN)

18 When he takes the throne(IO) of his kingdom, he is to write(IP) for himself on a scroll a copy(IQ) of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life(IR) so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees(IS) 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law(IT) to the right or to the left.(IU) Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.(IV)

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical(IW) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings(IX) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.(IY) 2 They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,(IZ) as he promised them.(JA)

3 This is the share due the priests(JB) from the people who sacrifice a bull(JC) or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.(JD) 4 You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,(JE) 5 for the Lord your God has chosen them(JF) and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister(JG) in the Lord’s name always.(JH)

6 If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,(JI) 7 he may minister in the name(JJ) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. 8 He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.(JK)

Occult Practices

9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate(JL) the detestable ways(JM) of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,(JN) who practices divination(JO) or sorcery,(JP) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,(JQ) 11 or casts spells,(JR) or who is a medium or spiritist(JS) or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.(JT) 13 You must be blameless(JU) before the Lord your God.(JV)

The Prophet

14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.(JW) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.(JX) You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”(JY)

17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet(JZ) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words(KA) in his mouth.(KB) He will tell them everything I command him.(KC) 19 I myself will call to account(KD) anyone who does not listen(KE) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.(KF) 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,(KG) is to be put to death.”(KH)

21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,(KI) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.(KJ) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,(KK) so do not be alarmed.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 12:32 In Hebrew texts this verse (12:32) is numbered 13:1.
  2. Deuteronomy 13:1 In Hebrew texts 13:1-18 is numbered 13:2-19.
  3. Deuteronomy 13:15 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  4. Deuteronomy 13:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  5. Deuteronomy 14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain.
  6. Deuteronomy 16:6 Or down, at the time of day
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