Deuteronomy 11:26-28:27

New King James Version

^26 (A)“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (B)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; ²⁸ and the ^(C)curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. ²⁹ Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the ^(D)blessing on Mount Gerizim and the ^(E)curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, ^(F)beside the terebinth trees of Moreh? ³¹ For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it. ³² And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

A Prescribed Place of Worship

12 “These ^(G)are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, ^(H)all^[a] the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (I)You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(J)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ And ^(K)you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ^[b]wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not ^(L)worship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵ “But you shall seek the ^(M)place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^(N)dwelling^[c] place; and there you shall go. ^6 (O)There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(P)firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ And ^(Q)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(R)you shall rejoice in ^[d]all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—^(S)every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹ for as yet you have not come to the ^(T)rest^[e] and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you ^(U)rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, ¹¹ then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(V)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^(W)Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³ Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; ¹⁴ but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵ “However, ^(X)you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; ^(Y)the unclean and the clean may eat of it, ^(Z)of the gazelle and the deer alike. ^16 (AA)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the ^[f]heave offering of your hand. ¹⁸ But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in ^[g]all to which you put your hands. ^19 [h]Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(AB)enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. ²¹ If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from ^(AC)you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. ²² Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. ²³ Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(AD)for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(AE)that it may go well with you and your children after you, ^(AF)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ Only the ^(AG)holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. ²⁷ And ^(AH)you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat. ²⁸ Observe and obey all these words which I command you, ^(AI)that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Beware of False Gods

²⁹ “When ^(AJ)the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, ³⁰ take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ ^31 (AK)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every ^[i]abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for ^(AL)they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

³² “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; ^(AM)you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Punishment of Apostates

13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a ^(AN)dreamer of dreams, ^(AO)and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and ^(AP)the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, 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 that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God ^(AQ)is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall ^(AR)walk^[j] after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and ^(AS)hold fast to Him. ⁵ But ^(AT)that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^(AU)So you shall ^[k]put away the evil from your midst.

^6 (AV)“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, ^(AW)the wife ^[l]of your bosom, or your friend ^(AX)who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, ⁷ of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, ⁸ you shall ^(AY)not ^[m]consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; ⁹ but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to ^(AZ)death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹¹ So all Israel shall hear and ^(BA)fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

^12 (BB)“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ^13 [n]‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known— ¹⁴ then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[o]abomination was committed among you, ¹⁵ you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and ^[p]completely ^(BC)burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^(BD)a ^[q]heap forever; it shall not be built again. ^17 (BE)So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^(BF)turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ^[r]multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^(BG)to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Improper Mourning

14 “You are ^(BH)the children of the Lord your God; ^(BI)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[s]shave the front of your head for the dead. ^2 (BJ)For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Meat^(BK)

^3 (BL)“You shall not eat any ^[t]detestable thing. ^4 (BM)These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ^[u]mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals. ⁷ Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. ⁸ Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh ^(BN)or touch their dead carcasses.

^9 (BO)“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. ¹⁰ And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “All clean birds you may eat. ^12 (BP)But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, ¹³ the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; ¹⁴ every raven after its kind; ¹⁵ the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds; ¹⁶ the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, ¹⁸ the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹ “Also ^(BQ)every ^[v]creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; ^(BR)they shall not be eaten.

²⁰ “You may eat all clean birds.

^21 (BS)“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; ^(BT)for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.

“^(BU)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithing Principles

^22 (BV)“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. ^23 (BW)And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of ^(BX)the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴ But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or ^(BY)if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, ²⁵ then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶ And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall ^(BZ)rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷ You shall not ^[w]forsake the ^(CA)Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

^28 (CB)“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the ^(CC)tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. ²⁹ And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years^(CD)

15 “At the end of ^(CE)every seven years you shall grant a ^[x]release of debts. ² And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall ^[y]release it; he shall not ^[z]require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. ³ Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, ⁴ except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly ^(CF)bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— ⁵ only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. ⁶ For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; ^(CG)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Generosity to the Poor

⁷ “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the ^[aa]gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(CH)you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, ⁸ but ^(CI)you shall ^[ab]open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. ⁹ Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your ^(CJ)eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and ^(CK)he cry out to the Lord against you, and ^(CL)it become sin among you. ¹⁰ You shall surely give to him, and ^(CM)your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(CN)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ¹¹ For ^(CO)the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall ^[ac]open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12 (CP)“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^(CQ)sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you ^[ad]send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴ you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has ^(CR)blessed you with, you shall give to him. ^15 (CS)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 thing today. ¹⁶ And ^(CT)if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth ^(CU)a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals

^19 (CV)“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall ^[ae]sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. ^20 (CW)You and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. ^21 (CX)But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² You may eat it within your gates; ^(CY)the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. ²³ Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.

The Passover Reviewed^(CZ)

16 “Observe the ^(DA)month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for ^(DB)in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ² Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and ^(DC)the herd, in the ^(DD)place where the Lord chooses to put His name. ³ You shall eat no leavened bread with it; ^(DE)seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may ^(DF)remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. ^4 (DG)And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until ^(DH)morning.

⁵ “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you; ⁶ but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover ^(DI)at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. ⁷ And you shall roast and eat it ^(DJ)in the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. ⁸ Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and ^(DK)on the seventh day there shall be a ^[af]sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

The Feast of Weeks Reviewed^(DL)

⁹ “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. ¹⁰ Then you shall keep the ^(DM)Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give ^(DN)as the Lord your God blesses you. ^11 (DO)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 gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. ^12 (DP)And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed^(DQ)

^13 (DR)“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. ¹⁴ And ^(DS)you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your ^[ag]gates. ^15 (DT)Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

^16 (DU)“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and ^(DV)they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Every man shall give as he is able, ^(DW)according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

Justice Must Be Administered

¹⁸ “You shall appoint ^(DX)judges and officers in all your ^[ah]gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ^19 (DY)You shall not pervert justice; ^(DZ)you shall not ^[ai]show partiality, ^(EA)nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and ^[aj]twists the words of the righteous. ²⁰ You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may ^(EB)live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

^21 (EC)“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a ^[ak]wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. ^22 (ED)You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

Various Instructions

17 “You ^(EE)shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any ^[al]blemish or defect, for that is an ^[am]abomination to the Lord your God.

^2 (EF)“If there is found among you, within any of your ^[an]gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(EG)in transgressing His covenant, ³ who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either ^(EH)the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(EI)which I have not commanded, ^4 (EJ)and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[ao]abomination has been committed in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and ^(EK)shall stone ^(EL)to death that man or woman with stones. ⁶ Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three ^(EM)witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ⁷ The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among ^(EN)you.

^8 (EO)“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the ^(EP)place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ And ^(EQ)you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and ^(ER)to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; ^(ES)they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. ¹⁰ You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. ¹¹ According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. ¹² Now ^(ET)the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. ^13 (EU)And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

Principles Governing Kings

¹⁴ “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ^(EV)‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall surely set a king over you ^(EW)whom the Lord your God chooses; one ^(EX)from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶ But he shall not multiply ^(EY)horses for himself, nor cause the people ^(EZ)to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for ^(FA)the Lord has said to you, ^(FB)‘You shall not return that way again.’ ¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and ^(FC)gold for himself.

¹⁸ “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one ^(FD)before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹ And ^(FE)it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰ that his heart may not ^[ap]be lifted above his brethren, that he ^(FF)may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may ^[aq]prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

18 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have ^[ar]no part nor ^(FG)inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. ² Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.

³ “And this shall be the priest’s ^(FH)due^[as] from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. ^4 (FI)The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵ For ^(FJ)the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes ^(FK)to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

⁶ “So if a Levite comes from any of your ^[at]gates, from where he ^(FL)dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind ^(FM)to the place which the Lord chooses, ⁷ then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God ^(FN)as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. ⁸ They shall have equal ^(FO)portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

⁹ “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(FP)you shall not learn to follow the ^[au]abominations of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter ^(FQ)pass^[av] through the fire, ^(FR)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ^11 (FS)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or ^(FT)one who calls up the dead. ¹² For all who do these things are ^[aw]an abomination to the Lord, and ^(FU)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³ You shall be ^[ax]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not ^[ay]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

^15 (FV)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ¹⁶ according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb ^(FW)in the day of the assembly, saying, ^(FX)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

¹⁷ “And the Lord said to me: ^(FY)‘What they have spoken is good. ^18 (FZ)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and ^(GA)will put My words in His mouth, ^(GB)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ^19 (GC)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰ But ^(GD)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(GE)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (GF)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, ^(GG)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it ^(GH)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Three Cities of Refuge^(GI)

19 “When the Lord your God ^(GJ)has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (GK)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “And ^(GL)this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor ^[az]unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— ⁵ as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; ^6 (GM)lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if the Lord your God ^(GN)enlarges your territory, as He swore to ^(GO)your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, ⁹ and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, ^(GP)then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, ^10 (GQ)lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹ “But ^(GR)if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 (GS)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(GT)but you shall ^[ba]put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

^14 (GU)“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses

^15 (GV)“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. ¹⁶ If a false witness ^(GW)rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, ^(GX)before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, ^19 (GY)then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so ^(GZ)you shall put away the evil from among you. ^20 (HA)And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. ^21 (HB)Your eye shall not pity: ^(HC)life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Principles Governing Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see ^(HD)horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be ^(HE)afraid of them; for the Lord your God is ^(HF)with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. ² So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. ³ And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; ⁴ for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, ^(HG)to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

⁵ “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not ^(HH)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶ Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. ^7 (HI)And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

⁸ “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ^(HJ)‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, ^[bb]lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ ⁹ And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

¹⁰ “When you go near a city to fight against it, ^(HK)then proclaim an offer of peace to it. ¹¹ And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. ¹² Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, ^(HL)you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ But the women, the little ones, ^(HM)the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and ^(HN)you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. ¹⁵ Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶ “But ^(HO)of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, ¹⁷ but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ lest ^(HP)they teach you to do according to all their ^[bc]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you ^(HQ)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. ²⁰ Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder

21 “If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ² then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. ³ And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a ^(HR)yoke. ⁴ The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. ⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for ^(HS)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; ^(HT)by their word every controversy and every ^[bd]assault shall be settled. ⁶ And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man ^(HU)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁷ Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. ⁸ Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, ^(HV)and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. ⁹ So ^(HW)you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Female Captives

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your ^(HX)wife, ¹² then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall ^(HY)shave her head and trim her nails. ¹³ She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and ^(HZ)mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have ^(IA)humbled her.

Firstborn Inheritance Rights

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, one loved ^(IB)and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, ¹⁶ then it shall be, ^(IC)on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. ¹⁷ But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn ^(ID)by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he ^(IE)is the beginning of his strength; ^(IF)the right of the firstborn is his.

The Rebellious Son

¹⁸ “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. ²⁰ And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; ^(IG)so you shall put away the evil from among you, ^(IH)and all Israel shall hear and fear.

Miscellaneous Laws

²² “If a man has committed a sin ^(II)deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ^23 (IJ)his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that ^(IK)you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for ^(IL)he who is hanged is accursed of God.

Various Laws of Morality

22 “You ^(IM)shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and ^[be]hide yourself from them; you shall certainly 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 to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. ³ You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you ^[bf]must not hide yourself.

^4 (IN)“You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again.

⁵ “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are ^[bg]an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶ “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(IO)you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷ you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, ^(IP)that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.

^9 (IQ)“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.

^10 (IR)“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

^11 (IS)“You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.

¹² “You shall make ^(IT)tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.

Laws of Sexual Morality

¹³ “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and ^(IU)detests her, ¹⁴ and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ ¹⁵ then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶ And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. ¹⁷ Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; ¹⁹ and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

²⁰ “But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, ²¹ then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with ^(IV)stones, because she has ^(IW)done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. ^(IX)So you shall ^[bh]put away the evil from among you.

^22 (IY)“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

²³ “If a young woman who is a virgin is ^(IZ)betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴ then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he ^(JA)humbled his neighbor’s wife; ^(JB)so you shall put away the evil from among you.

²⁵ “But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. ²⁶ But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. ²⁷ For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

^28 (JC)“If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, ²⁹ then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father ^(JD)fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife ^(JE)because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.

^30 (JF)“A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor ^(JG)uncover his father’s bed.

Those Excluded from the Congregation

23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall ^(JH)not enter the assembly of the Lord.

² “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

^3 (JI)“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, ^4 (JJ)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and ^(JK)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[bi]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God ^(JL)loves you. ^6 (JM)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

⁷ “You shall not abhor an Edomite, ^(JN)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because ^(JO)you were an alien in his land. ⁸ The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Cleanliness of the Campsite

⁹ “When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. ^10 (JP)If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. ¹¹ But it shall be, when evening comes, that ^(JQ)he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.

¹² “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; ¹³ and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God ^(JR)walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

^15 (JS)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it ^[bj]seems best to him; ^(JT)you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷ “There shall be no ritual ^[bk]harlot ^(JU)of the daughters of Israel, or a ^(JV)perverted^[bl] one of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are ^[bm]an abomination to the Lord your God.

^19 (JW)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. ^20 (JX)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, ^(JY)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

^21 (JZ)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. ²² But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ^23 (KA)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴ “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. ²⁵ When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, ^(KB)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Law Concerning Divorce

24 “When a ^(KC)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^[bn]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a ^(KD)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ² when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ^4 (KE)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is ^[bo]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

^5 (KF)“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and ^(KG)bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

⁶ “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes ^[bp]one’s living in pledge.

⁷ “If a man is ^(KH)found ^[bq]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; ^(KI)and you shall put away the evil from among you.

⁸ “Take heed in ^(KJ)an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ^9 (KK)Remember what the Lord your God did ^(KL)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!

¹⁰ “When you ^(KM)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹² And if the man is poor, you shall not ^[br]keep his pledge overnight. ^13 (KN)You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and ^(KO)bless you; and ^(KP)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not ^(KQ)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. ¹⁵ Each day ^(KR)you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; ^(KS)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

^16 (KT)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

^17 (KU)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, ^(KV)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. ¹⁸ But ^(KW)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

^19 (KX)“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may ^(KY)bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

Laws of Social Responsibility

25 “If there is a ^(KZ)dispute between men, and they come to ^[bs]court, that the judges may judge them, and they ^(LA)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, ² then it shall be, if the wicked man ^(LB)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down ^(LC)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. ^3 (LD)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother ^(LE)be humiliated in your sight.

^4 (LF)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it ^[bt]treads out the grain.

Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother

^5 (LG)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears ^(LH)will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(LI)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the ^(LJ)gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ^(LK)‘I do not want to take her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, ^(LL)remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not ^(LM)build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

Miscellaneous Laws

¹¹ “If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, ¹² then you shall cut off her hand; ^(LN)your eye shall not pity her.

^13 (LO)“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. ¹⁴ You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵ You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, ^(LP)that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For ^(LQ)all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are ^[bu]an abomination to the Lord your God.

Destroy the Amalekites

^17 (LR)“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he ^(LS)did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore it shall be, ^(LT)when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will ^(LU)blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, ^2 (LV)that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and ^(LW)go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. ³ And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord ^[bv]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: ‘My father was ^(LX)a ^[bw]Syrian, ^(LY)about to perish, and ^(LZ)he went down to Egypt and ^[bx]dwelt there, ^(MA)few in number; and there he became a nation, ^(MB)great, mighty, and populous. ⁶ But the ^(MC)Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. ^7 (MD)Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. ⁸ So ^(ME)the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, ^(MF)with great terror and with signs and wonders. ⁹ He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, ^(MG)“a land flowing with milk and honey”; ¹⁰ and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’

“Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹ So ^(MH)you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

¹² “When you have finished laying aside all the ^(MI)tithe of your increase in the third year—^(MJ)the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, ¹³ then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the ^[by]holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, ^(MK)nor have I forgotten them. ^14 (ML)I have not eaten any of it ^[bz]when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it ^[ca]for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. ^15 (MM)Look down from Your holy ^[cb]habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, ^(MN)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

A Special People of God

¹⁶ “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷ Today you have ^(MO)proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will ^(MP)obey His voice. ¹⁸ Also today ^(MQ)the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, ¹⁹ and that He will set you ^(MR)high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be ^(MS)a ^[cc]holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”

The Law Inscribed on Stones

27 Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. ² And it shall be, on the day ^(MT)when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that ^(MU)you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. ³ You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(MV)‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you. ⁴ Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that ^(MW)on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. ⁵ And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; ^(MX)you shall not use an iron tool on them. ⁶ You shall build with ^[cd]whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and ^(MY)rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸ And you shall ^(MZ)write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.”

⁹ Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: ^(NA)This day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ Therefore you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”

Curses Pronounced from Mount Ebal

¹¹ And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, ¹² “These shall stand ^(NB)on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; ¹³ and ^(NC)these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴ “And ^(ND)the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: ^15 (NE)‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, ^[ce]an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’

^(NF)“And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’

^16 (NG)‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^17 (NH)‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^18 (NI)‘Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^19 (NJ)‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^20 (NK)‘Cursed is the one who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s bed.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^21 (NL)‘Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^22 (NM)‘Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^23 (NN)‘Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^24 (NO)‘Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^25 (NP)‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

^26 (NQ)‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’

“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ”

Blessings on Obedience^(NR)

28 “Now it shall come to pass, ^(NS)if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God ^(NT)will set you high above all nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(NU)overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

^3 (NV)“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ^(NW)in the country.

⁴ “Blessed shall be ^(NX)the ^[cf]fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

⁵ “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

^6 (NY)“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(NZ)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

⁸ “The Lord will ^(OA)command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you ^(OB)set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

^9 (OC)“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(OD)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(OE)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(OF)the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord ^[cg]swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you His good ^[ch]treasure, the heavens, ^(OG)to give the rain to your land in its season, and ^(OH)to bless all the work of your hand. ^(OI)You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make ^(OJ)you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you ^[ci]heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ^14 (OK)So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses on Disobedience^(OL)

¹⁵ “But it shall come to pass, ^(OM)if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

¹⁶ “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

¹⁷ “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

¹⁸ “Cursed shall be the ^[cj]fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

¹⁹ “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord will send on you ^(ON)cursing, ^(OO)confusion, and ^(OP)rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. ²¹ The Lord will make the ^[ck]plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. ^22 (OQ)The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with ^(OR)scorching,^[cl] and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(OS)your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (OT)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become ^[cm]troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. ^26 (OU)Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you with ^(OV)the boils of Egypt, with ^(OW)tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.