Deuteronomy 12:1-22:20

Names of God Bible

The Proper Place to Worship

12 Here are the laws and rules you must faithfully obey in the land that Yahweh Elohim of your ancestors is giving you as your own. You must obey them as long as you live in the land.

² Completely destroy all the worship sites on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every large tree. The people you’re forcing out worship their gods in these places. ³ Tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, burn their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, cut down their idols, and wipe out the names of their gods from those places.

⁴ Never worship Yahweh your Elohim in the way they worship their gods. ⁵ Yahweh your Elohim will choose a place out of all your tribes to live and put his name. Go there and worship him. ⁶ Bring him your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your income, your contributions, the offerings you vow to bring, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats. ⁷ There, in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim, you and your families will eat and enjoy everything you’ve worked for, because Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you.

⁸ Never worship in the way that it’s being done here today, where everyone does whatever he considers right. ⁹ Up until now you haven’t come to your place of rest, the property Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. ¹⁰ But you will cross the Jordan River and settle in the land Yahweh your Elohim is giving you as your own property. He will give you peace from all your enemies around you so that you will live securely. ¹¹ Then Yahweh your Elohim will choose a place where his name will live. You must bring everything I command you to that place. Bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your income, your contributions, and all the best offerings you vow to bring to Yahweh. ¹² Enjoy yourselves in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites. (The Levites live in your cities because they have no land of their own as you have.) ¹³ Be careful that you don’t sacrifice your burnt offerings wherever you want. ¹⁴ Instead, sacrifice them only at the place that Yahweh will choose in one of your tribes. There you must do everything I command you.

¹⁵ In whatever city you live, you may slaughter and eat as much meat as you want from what Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you with. Clean and unclean^[a] people may eat it as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer. ¹⁶ But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat the Lord’s offerings in your cities. Those offerings are: one-tenth of your grain, new wine, and olive oil; the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, or goats; the offerings you vow to bring; your freewill offerings; and your contributions. ¹⁸ Instead, you, your sons and daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your cities must eat these in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim at the place Yahweh your Elohim will choose. There in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim enjoy everything you’ve worked for. ¹⁹ Don’t forget to take care of the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ Yahweh your Elohim will expand your country’s borders as he promised. You will say, “I’m hungry for meat.” Then eat as much meat as you want. ²¹ If the place Yahweh your Elohim chooses to put his name is too far away from you, you may slaughter an animal from the herds or flocks that Yahweh has given you. Eat as much as you want in your city. I have commanded you to do this. ²² Eat it as you would eat a gazelle or a deer: Clean and unclean people may eat it together. ²³ However, be sure you never eat blood, because blood contains life. Never eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ Never eat blood. Pour it on the ground like water. ²⁵ If you don’t eat blood, things will go well for you and your descendants. You will be doing what Yahweh considers right.

²⁶ Take the holy things and the offerings you have vowed to bring, and go to the place Yahweh will choose. ²⁷ Sacrifice the meat and the blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of Yahweh your Elohim. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of Yahweh your Elohim, but you may eat the meat. ²⁸ Be sure you obey all these instructions I’m giving you. Then things will always go well for you and your descendants because you will be doing what Yahweh your Elohim considers good and right.

²⁹ Yahweh your Elohim will destroy the nations where you’re going and force them out of your way. You will take possession of their land and live there. ³⁰ After they’ve been destroyed, be careful you aren’t tempted to follow their customs. Don’t even ask about their gods and say, “How did these people worship their gods? We want to do what they did.” ³¹ Never worship Yahweh your Elohim in the way they worship their gods, because everything they do for their gods is disgusting to Yahweh. He hates it! They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.^[b]

³² Be sure to do everything I command you. Never add anything to it or take anything away from it.

How Israel Is to Deal with False Prophets

13 ^[c]One of your people, claiming to be a prophet or to have prophetic dreams, may predict a miraculous sign or an amazing thing. ² What he predicts may even take place. But don’t listen to that prophet or dreamer^[d] if he says, “Let’s worship and serve other gods.” (Those gods may be gods you’ve never heard of.) ³ Yahweh your Elohim is testing you to find out if you really love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ Worship Yahweh your Elohim, fear him, obey his commands, listen to what he says, serve him, and be loyal to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of Egypt and freed you from slavery. He was trying to lead you away from following the directions Yahweh your Elohim gave you. You must get rid of this evil.

⁶ Your own brother, son, or daughter, the wife you love, or your best friend may secretly tempt you, saying, “Let’s go worship other gods.” (Those gods may be gods that you and your ancestors never knew. ⁷ They may be the gods of the people around you, who live near or far, from one end of the land to the other.) ⁸ Don’t be influenced by any of these people or listen to them. Have no pity on them. Don’t feel sorry for them or protect them. ⁹ You must put them to death. You must start the execution. Then all the other people will join you in putting them to death. ¹⁰ Stone them to death because they were trying to lead you away from Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹¹ All Israel will hear about it and be afraid. Then no one among you will ever do such a wicked thing again.

¹² You may hear that the residents in one of the cities which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you to live in ¹³ have been led away from the Lord your God by worthless people. You may hear that these people have been saying, “Let’s worship other gods.” (Those gods may be gods you’ve never heard of.) ¹⁴ Then make a thorough investigation. If it is true, and you can prove that this disgusting thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you must kill the residents of that city with swords and destroy that city and everyone in it, including the animals, because they are claimed by God. ¹⁶ Gather their goods into the middle of the city square. Then burn their city and all their goods as a burnt offering to Yahweh your Elohim. It must remain a mound of ruins and never be rebuilt. ¹⁷ Don’t ever take any of the things claimed for destruction. Then Yahweh will stop being angry and will show you mercy. In his mercy he will make your population increase, as he swore to your ancestors. ¹⁸ Yahweh your Elohim will do this if you listen to him, obey all the commands that I’m giving you today, and do what Yahweh your Elohim considers right.

Religious Practices^(A)

14 You are the children of Yahweh your Elohim. So when someone dies, don’t mourn by cutting yourselves or shaving bald spots on your head. ² You are people who are holy to Yahweh your Elohim. Out of all the people who live on earth, Yahweh has chosen you to be his own special possession.

³ Never eat anything that is disgusting to the Lord. ⁴ Here are the kinds of animals you may eat: oxen, sheep, goats, ⁵ deer, gazelles, fallow deer,^[e] wild goats, mountain goats, antelope, and mountain sheep. ⁶ You may eat all animals that have completely divided hoofs and that also chew their cud. ⁷ But some animals chew their cud, while others have completely divided hoofs. You may not eat these kinds of animals. They include camels, rabbits, and rock badgers. (Although they chew their cud, they don’t have divided hoofs. They are unclean^[f] for you.) ⁸ Also, you may not eat pigs. (Although their hoofs are divided, they don’t chew their cud.) Never eat their meat or touch their dead bodies.

⁹ Here’s what you may eat of every creature that lives in the water: You may eat any creature that has fins and scales. ¹⁰ But never eat anything that doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean for you.

¹¹ You may eat any clean bird. ¹² But here are the birds that you should never eat: eagles, bearded vultures, black vultures, ¹³ buzzards, all types of kites, ¹⁴ all types of crows, ¹⁵ ostriches, nighthawks, seagulls, all types of falcons, ¹⁶ little owls, great owls, barn owls, ¹⁷ pelicans, ospreys, cormorants, ¹⁸ storks, all types of herons, hoopoes, and bats.

¹⁹ Every swarming, winged insect is also unclean for you. They must never be eaten. ²⁰ However, you may eat any other kind of flying creature that is clean.

²¹ Never eat any creature that dies naturally. You may give it to the foreigners who live in your cities, and they may eat it. You may also sell it to foreigners who are visiting. But you are people who are holy to Yahweh your Elohim.

Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Giving God One-Tenth of Everything

²² Every year be sure to save a tenth of the crops harvested from whatever you plant in your fields. ²³ Eat the tenth of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, and eat the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim in the place he will choose to put his name. Then you will learn to fear Yahweh your Elohim as long as you live.

²⁴ But the place Yahweh your Elohim will choose to put his name may be too far away. Yahweh your Elohim may bless you with so much that you can’t carry a tenth of your income that far. ²⁵ If so, exchange the tenth part of your income for silver. Take the silver with you, and go to the place Yahweh your Elohim will choose. ²⁶ Use the silver to buy whatever you want: cattle, sheep, goats, wine, liquor—whatever you choose. Then you and your family will eat and enjoy yourselves there in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim. ²⁷ Never forget to take care of the Levites who live in your cities. They have no land of their own as you have.

²⁸ At the end of every third year bring a tenth of that year’s crop, and store it in your cities. ²⁹ Foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come to eat all they want. The Levites may also come because they have no land of their own as you have. Then Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in whatever work you do.

The Seventh-Year Celebration

15 At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. ² This is what you will do: If you’ve made a loan, don’t collect payment on the debt your neighbor still owes you. Don’t demand that your neighbor or relative pay you, because the time for suspending payments on debts has been proclaimed in Yahweh’s honor. ³ You may demand that a foreigner pay, but don’t collect payment on the debt another Israelite still owes you. ⁴ In any case, there shouldn’t be any poor people among you, because Yahweh your Elohim will certainly bless you in the land he is giving you as your own possession. ⁵ He will bless you only if you listen carefully to Yahweh your Elohim and faithfully obey all these commands I’m giving you today. ⁶ Yahweh your Elohim will bless you, as he promised. You will make loans to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any of them. You will rule many nations, but no nation will ever rule you.

⁷ This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. ⁸ Be generous to these poor people, and freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hard-hearted and tight-fisted with them.^[g]

⁹ When the seventh year—the year when payments on debts are canceled—is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to Yahweh about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. ¹⁰ Be sure to give to them without any hesitation. When you do this, Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in everything you work for and set out to do. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. That’s why I command you to be generous to other Israelites who are poor and needy.

¹² Whenever Hebrew men or women are sold to you as slaves, they will be your slaves for six years. In the seventh year you must let them go free. ¹³ But when you let them go, don’t send them away empty-handed. ¹⁴ Generously give them provisions—sheep from your flocks, grain from your threshing floor,^[h] and wine from your winepress. Be as generous to them as Yahweh your Elohim has been to you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and Yahweh your Elohim freed you. That’s why I’m giving you this command today.

¹⁶ But suppose a male slave says to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is happy with you. ¹⁷ Then take an awl and pierce it through his ear lobe into a door, and he will be your slave for life. Do the same to a female slave if she doesn’t want to leave.

¹⁸ If you have to let your slave go free, it won’t be a hardship for you. It would have cost you twice as much to hire someone to do the same work for those six years. Besides, Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in everything you do.

Setting Aside Firstborn Males for God

¹⁹ You must dedicate every firstborn male from your herds and flocks to Yahweh your Elohim. Never use a firstborn ox for work, and never shear a firstborn sheep. ²⁰ Every year you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim in the place Yahweh will choose. ²¹ But if an animal is lame or blind or has any other serious defect—never sacrifice it to Yahweh your Elohim. ²² Eat it in your city. Clean and unclean^[i] people may eat them together as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer. ²³ But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water.

Three Major Festivals

16 Honor Yahweh your Elohim by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib. In the month of Abib Yahweh your Elohim brought you out of Egypt at night. ² Slaughter an animal from your flock or herd as the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim. Do this at the place where Yahweh will choose for his name to live. ³ Never eat leavened bread with the meat from this sacrifice. Instead, for seven days you must eat unleavened bread at this festival. (It is the bread of misery because you left Egypt in a hurry.) Eat this bread so that, as long as you live, you will remember the day you left Egypt. ⁴ There should be no yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. Never leave until morning any of the meat you slaughter on the evening of the first day.

⁵ You’re not allowed to slaughter the animals for Passover in any of the cities Yahweh your Elohim is giving you. ⁶ Instead, slaughter your animals for Passover in the place where Yahweh your Elohim will choose for his name to live. Do this in the evening as the sun goes down. This is the same time you did it when you left Egypt. ⁷ Cook the meat, and eat it at the place Yahweh your Elohim will choose. In the morning you may go back to your tents. ⁸ For six days eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day hold a religious assembly dedicated to Yahweh your Elohim. Don’t do any work that day.

⁹ Count seven weeks from the time you start harvesting grain. ¹⁰ Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to Yahweh your Elohim. Bring a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings Yahweh your Elohim has given you. ¹¹ Enjoy yourselves in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites who live in your cities, the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. Enjoy yourselves at the place Yahweh your Elohim will choose for his name to live. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and obey these laws carefully.

¹³ After you have gathered the grain from your threshing floor^[j] and made your wine, celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days. ¹⁴ Enjoy yourselves at the festival along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities. ¹⁵ For seven days you will celebrate this festival dedicated to Yahweh your Elohim in the place Yahweh will choose. You will enjoy yourselves, because Yahweh your Elohim will bless all your harvest and all your work.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of Yahweh your Elohim at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. But no one may come into the presence of Yahweh without an offering. ¹⁷ Each man must bring a gift in proportion to the blessings Yahweh your Elohim has given him.

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^{[k] 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.^{[l] 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.^[m]

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.^{[n] 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.

Laws about Marriage and Family

¹⁰ When you go to war with your enemies and Yahweh your Elohim hands them over to you, you may take them captive. ¹¹ If you see a beautiful woman among the captives and have your heart set on her, you may marry her. ¹² Bring her into your home. She must shave her head, cut her nails, ¹³ and no longer wear the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. Then she may live in your house and mourn the loss of her father and mother for one month. After that, you may sleep with her. Then you will become husband and wife.

¹⁴ But if it happens that you are no longer pleased with her, let her go wherever she wants. You must never sell her or mistreat her as if she were a slave,^[o] since you’ve already had sex with her.

¹⁵ A man might have two wives and love one but not the other. Both wives might have children, and the firstborn son might belong to the wife that the man doesn’t love. ¹⁶ When the day comes for the father to give his sons their inheritance, he can’t treat the son of the wife he loves as if that son were the firstborn. This would show a total disregard for the real firstborn (the son of the wife he doesn’t love). ¹⁷ Instead, he must recognize the son of the wife he doesn’t love as the firstborn. He must give that son a double portion of whatever he owns. That son is the very first son he had. The rights of the firstborn son are his.

¹⁸ Parents might have a stubborn and rebellious son who doesn’t obey them. Even though they punish him, he still won’t listen to them. ¹⁹ His father and mother must take him to the leaders of the city at the city gate. ²⁰ They will say to the leaders of the city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He won’t obey us. He eats too much and is a drunk.” ²¹ All the men of the city should stone him to death. You must get rid of this evil. When all Israel hears about it, they will be afraid.

Various Laws

²² When a convicted person is put to death, ²³ never leave his dead body hung on a pole overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone whose body is hung on a pole is cursed by Elohim. The land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving you must never become unclean.^[p]

22 If you see another Israelite’s ox or sheep out where it doesn’t belong, don’t pretend that you don’t see it. Make sure you take it back. ² If the owner doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who owns it, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find a donkey, some clothes, or anything else that another Israelite may have lost. Don’t pretend that you don’t know what to do.

⁴ If you see another Israelite’s donkey or ox lying on the road, don’t pretend that you don’t see it. Make sure you help him get it back on its feet.

⁵ A woman must never wear anything men would wear, and a man must never wear women’s clothes. Whoever does this is disgusting to Yahweh your Elohim.

⁶ Whenever you’re traveling and find a nest containing chicks or eggs, this is what you must do. If the mother bird is sitting on the nest, never take her with the chicks. ⁷ You may take the chicks, but make sure you let the mother go. Then things will go well for you, and you will live for a long time.

⁸ Whenever you build a new house, put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you won’t be responsible for a death at your home if someone falls off the roof.

⁹ Never plant anything between the rows in your vineyard. Otherwise, you will have to give everything that grows there to the holy place. This includes the crop you planted and the grapes from the vineyard.

¹⁰ Never plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.

¹¹ Never wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the shawl you wear over your clothes.

Laws about Sex and Marriage

¹³ A man might marry a woman, sleep with her, and decide he doesn’t like her. ¹⁴ Then he might make up charges against her and ruin her reputation by saying, “I married this woman. But when I slept with her, I found out she wasn’t a virgin.” ¹⁵ The girl’s father and mother must go to the city gate where the leaders of the city are and submit the evidence that their daughter was a virgin. ¹⁶ The girl’s father will tell the leaders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he doesn’t like her. ¹⁷ Now he has made up charges against her. He says he found out that my daughter wasn’t a virgin. But here’s the evidence!” Then the girl’s parents must spread out the cloth in front of the leaders of the city. ¹⁸ The leaders of that city must take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They will fine him 2¼ pounds of silver and give it to the girl’s father. The husband ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ But if the charge is true, and no evidence that the girl was a virgin can be found,