Administering Justice

¹⁸ Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every city that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Never pervert justice. Instead, be impartial. Never take a bribe, because bribes blind wise people and deny justice to those who are in the right. ²⁰ Strive for nothing but justice so that you will live and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹ When you build the altar for Yahweh your Elohim, never plant beside it any tree dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ²² Never set up a sacred stone. These are things Yahweh your Elohim hates.

17 Never offer an ox or a sheep that has a defect or anything seriously wrong with it as a sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim. That would be disgusting to Yahweh your Elohim.

² In one of the cities Yahweh your Elohim is giving you, there may be a man or woman among you who is doing what Yahweh your Elohim considers evil. This person may be disregarding the conditions of Yahweh’s promise^{[a] 3} by worshiping and bowing down to other gods, the sun, the moon, or the whole army of heaven. I have forbidden this. ⁴ When you are told about it, investigate it thoroughly. If it’s true and it can be proven that this disgusting thing has been done in Israel, ⁵ then bring the man or woman who did this evil thing to the gates of your city, and stone that person to death. ⁶ The person can only be sentenced to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses, but no one should ever be sentenced to death on the testimony of only one witness. ⁷ The witnesses must start the execution, then all the other people will join them in putting the person to death. You must get rid of this evil.

⁸ There may be a case that is too hard for you to decide. It may involve murder, assault, or a dispute—any case which may be brought to court in your cities. Take this case to the place that Yahweh your Elohim will choose. ⁹ Go to the Levitical priests and the judge who is serving at that time. Ask for their opinion, and they will give you their verdict ¹⁰ at the place that Yahweh will choose. Do what they tell you. Follow all their instructions carefully, ¹¹ and do what they tell you to do in their verdict. Do exactly what they tell you to do in their decision. ¹² If anyone deliberately disobeys the priest (who serves Yahweh your Elohim) or the judge, that person must die. You must get rid of this evil in Israel. ¹³ When all the people hear about it, they will be afraid and will never defy God’s law again.

¹⁴ You will enter the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. You will take possession of it and live there. You will say, “Let’s have our own king like all the other nations around us.” ¹⁵ Be sure to appoint the king Yahweh your Elohim will choose. He must be one of your own people. Never let a foreigner be king, because he’s not one of your own people.

¹⁶ The king must never own a large number of horses or make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. Yahweh has told you, “You will never go back there again.” ¹⁷ The king must never have a large number of wives, or he will turn away from God. And he must never own a lot of gold and silver.

¹⁸ When he becomes king, he should have the Levitical priests make him a copy of these teachings on a scroll. ¹⁹ He must keep it with him and read it his entire life. He will learn to fear Yahweh his Elohim and faithfully obey everything found in these teachings and laws. ²⁰ Then he won’t think he’s better than the rest of his people, and he won’t disobey these commands in any way. So he and his sons will rule for a long time in Israel.

Laws for the Levites

18 The Levitical priests—in fact, the whole tribe of Levi—will receive no land or property of their own like the rest of the Israelites. They will eat what has been sacrificed to Yahweh. These sacrifices will be what they receive.^{[b] 2} So the Levites will have no land of their own like the other Israelites. Yahweh will be their inheritance, as he promised them.

³ This is what the people owe the priests whenever they sacrifice an ox, a sheep, or a goat: the shoulder, jaws, and stomach. ⁴ Also, give them the first produce harvested: grain, new wine, olive oil, and the first wool you shear from your sheep. ⁵ Out of all your tribes, Yahweh your Elohim has chosen the Levites and their descendants to do the work of serving in the name of Yahweh forever.

⁶ A Levite from any of your cities in Israel may come from where he has been living to the place Yahweh will choose. He may come as often as he wants ⁷ and may serve in the name of Yahweh his Elohim like all the other Levites who do their work in Yahweh’s presence. ⁸ If he does, he’ll get the same amount of food as they do, in addition to what he gets from selling his family’s goods.^[c]

Laws about Prophets

⁹ When you come to the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you, never learn the disgusting practices of those nations. ¹⁰ You must never sacrifice your sons or daughters by burning them alive, practice black magic, be a fortuneteller, witch, or sorcerer, ¹¹ cast spells, ask ghosts or spirits for help, or consult the dead. ¹² Whoever does these things is disgusting to Yahweh. Yahweh your Elohim is forcing these nations out of your way because of their disgusting practices. ¹³ You must have integrity in dealing with Yahweh your Elohim. ¹⁴ These nations you are forcing out listen to fortunetellers and to those who practice black magic. But Yahweh your Elohim won’t let you do anything like that.

¹⁵ Yahweh your Elohim will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me. You must listen to him. ¹⁶ This is what you asked Yahweh your Elohim to give you on the day of the assembly at Mount Horeb. You said, “We never want to hear the voice of Yahweh our Elohim or see this raging fire again. If we do, we’ll die!”

¹⁷ Yahweh told me, “What they’ve said is good. ¹⁸ So I will send them a prophet, an Israelite like you. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ Whoever refuses to listen to the words that prophet speaks in my name will answer to me. ²⁰ But any prophet who dares to say something in my name that I didn’t command him to say or who speaks in the name of other gods must die.”

²¹ You may be wondering, “How can we recognize that Yahweh didn’t speak this message?” ²² If a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name and what he says doesn’t happen or come true, then it didn’t come from Yahweh. That prophet has spoken on his own authority. Never be afraid of him.

Criminal Laws

19 Yahweh your Elohim will destroy all the nations that are living in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. You will force them out and live in their cities and houses. ² When all this is done, set aside three cities in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. ³ Provide a route to each of these cities and divide the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you into three regions. Whoever kills someone may run to one of these cities.

⁴ A person who unintentionally kills someone he never hated in the past may run to one of these cities to save his life. ⁵ Suppose two people go into the woods to cut wood. As one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head flies off the handle, hits, and kills the other person. The one who accidentally killed the other person may run to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, in a rage the relative who has the authority to avenge the death will pursue him. If the place is too far away, the relative may catch up with him and take his life even though he didn’t deserve the death penalty, because in the past he never hated the person he killed. ⁷ This is why I’m commanding you to set aside three cities for yourselves.

⁸ Yahweh your Elohim may expand your country’s borders as he promised your ancestors with an oath. He may give you the whole land he promised to give them. ⁹ He may do this because you faithfully obey all these commands I am now giving you—to love Yahweh your Elohim and follow his directions as long as you live. If this happens, you may add three more cities of refuge to these three. ¹⁰ That way, innocent people won’t be killed in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you, and you won’t be guilty of murder.

¹¹ Suppose someone hates another person, waits in ambush for him, attacks him, takes his life, and runs to one of these cities. ¹² If someone does this, the leaders of your city must send for that person. They must take him from that city and hand him over to the relative who has the authority to avenge the death. He must die. ¹³ They must have no pity on him. The guilt of murdering an innocent person must be removed from Israel. Then things will go well for Israel.

¹⁴ Never move your neighbor’s original boundary marker on any property in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you.

¹⁵ One witness is never enough to convict someone of a crime, offense, or sin he may have committed. Cases must be settled based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁶ This is what you must do whenever a witness takes the stand to accuse a person falsely of a crime. ¹⁷ The two people involved must stand in Yahweh’s presence, in front of the priests and judges who are serving at that time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation. If it is found that the witness lied when he testified against the other Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to him what he planned to do to the other person. You must get rid of this evil. ²⁰ When the rest of the people hear about this, they will be afraid. Never again will such an evil thing be done among you. ²¹ Have no pity on him: Take a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Laws for Warfare

20 When you go to war against your enemies, you may see horses, chariots, and armies larger than yours. Don’t be afraid of them, because Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of Egypt, will be with you. ² Before the battle starts, a priest must come and speak to the troops. ³ He should tell them, “Listen, Israel, today you’re going into battle against your enemies. Don’t lose your courage! Don’t be afraid or alarmed or tremble because of them. ⁴ Yahweh your Elohim is going with you. He will fight for you against your enemies and give you victory.”

⁵ The officers should tell the troops, “If you have built a new house but not dedicated it, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will dedicate it. ⁶ If you have planted a vineyard and not enjoyed the grapes, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will enjoy the grapes. ⁷ If you are engaged to a woman but have not married her, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will marry her.”

⁸ The officers should also tell the troops, “If you are afraid or have lost your courage, you may go home. Then you won’t ruin the morale of the other Israelites.” ⁹ When the officers finish speaking to the troops, they should appoint commanders to lead them.

¹⁰ When you approach a city to attack it, offer its people a peaceful way to surrender. ¹¹ If they accept it and open their gates to you, then all the people there will be made to do forced labor and serve you. ¹² If they won’t accept your offer of peace but declare war on you, set up a blockade around the city. ¹³ When Yahweh your Elohim hands the city over to you, kill every man in that city with your swords. ¹⁴ But take the women and children, the cattle and everything else in the city, including all its goods, as your loot. You may enjoy your enemies’ goods that Yahweh your Elohim has given you. ¹⁵ This is what you must do to all the cities that are far away which don’t belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, you must not spare anyone’s life in the cities of these nations that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you as your property. ¹⁷ You must claim the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites for the Lord and completely destroy them, as Yahweh your Elohim has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to do all the disgusting things they do for their gods, and you will sin against Yahweh your Elohim.

¹⁹ This is what you must do whenever you blockade a city for a long time in order to capture it in war. Don’t harm any of its fruit trees with an ax. You can eat the fruit. Never cut those trees down, because the trees of the field are not people you have come to blockade. ²⁰ You may destroy trees that you know are not fruit trees. You may cut them down and use them in your blockade until you capture the city.

When a Murder Is Committed, but the Murderer Can’t Be Found

21 This is what you must do if you find a murder victim lying in a field in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. If no one knows who committed the murder, ² your leaders and judges must go and measure the distance from the body to each of the neighboring cities. ³ When it has been determined which city is nearest the body, the leaders from that city must choose a heifer that has never been put to work and never worn a yoke.^{[d] 4} The leaders of that city will bring the heifer down to a river, to a location where the land hasn’t been plowed or planted. At the river they must break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The priests, the descendants of Levi, must come forward. Yahweh your Elohim has chosen them to serve him as priests and to bless people in Yahweh’s name. Their decision is final in all cases involving a disagreement or an assault. ⁶ All the leaders from the city which was nearest the murder victim must wash their hands over the dead heifer. ⁷ Then they must make this formal statement: “We didn’t commit this murder, and we didn’t witness it. ⁸ Yahweh, make peace with your people Israel, whom you freed. Don’t let the guilt of this unsolved murder remain among your people Israel.” Then there will be peace with the Lord despite the murder. ⁹ This is how you will get rid of the guilt of an unsolved murder by doing what Yahweh considers right.