Deuteronomy 14-17

New American Standard Bible 1995

Clean and Unclean Animals

14 “You are ^(A)the sons of the Lord your God; ^(B)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[a]shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. ² For you are ^(C)a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a ^(D)people for His ^[b]own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³ “^(E)You shall not eat any detestable thing. ^4 (F)These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ^5 [c]the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. ⁶ Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in ^[d]two and ^[e]chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. ⁷ Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which ^[f]chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in ^[g]two: the camel and the ^[h]rabbit and the ^[i]shaphan, for though they ^[j]chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. ⁸ The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

⁹ “These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, ¹⁰ but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “You may eat any clean bird. ¹² But ^(G)these are the ones which you shall not eat: the ^[k]eagle and the vulture and the ^[l]buzzard, ¹³ and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, ¹⁴ and every raven in its kind, ¹⁵ and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds, ¹⁶ the little owl, the ^[m]great owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat. ¹⁹ And all the ^[n]teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. ²⁰ You may eat any clean bird.

²¹ “^(H)You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your ^[o]town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are ^(I)a holy people to the Lord your God. ^(J)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²² “You ^(K)shall surely tithe all the produce from ^[p]what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. ²³ You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, ^(L)at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may ^(M)learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴ If the ^[q]distance is so great for you that you are not able to ^[r]bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses ^(N)to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, ²⁵ then you shall ^[s]exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶ You may spend the money for whatever your ^[t]heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your ^[u]heart ^[v]desires; and ^(O)there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷ Also you shall not neglect ^(P)the Levite who is in your ^[w]town, ^(Q)for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

²⁸ “^(R)At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your ^[x]town. ²⁹ The Levite, ^(S)because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and ^(T)the alien, the ^[y]orphan and the widow who are in your ^[z]town, shall come and ^(U)eat and be satisfied, in order that ^(V)the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

The Sabbatic Year

15 “^(W)At the end of every seven years you shall ^[aa]grant a remission of debts. ² This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. ^3 (X)From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. ⁴ However, there will be no poor among you, since ^(Y)the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, ⁵ if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. ^6 (Z)For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷ “If there is ^(AA)a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your ^[ab]towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(AB)you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; ⁸ but ^(AC)you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. ⁹ Beware that there is no base ^[ac]thought in your heart, saying, ‘^(AD)The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and ^(AE)your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he ^(AF)may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. ¹⁰ You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(AG)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all ^[ad]your undertakings. ^11 (AH)For the poor will never cease to be ^[ae]in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

¹² “^(AI)If your ^[af]kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him ^[ag]free. ¹³ When you set him ^[ah]free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴ You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. ¹⁵ You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you ^[ai]this today. ¹⁶ It shall come about ^(AJ)if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.

¹⁸ “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him ^[aj]free, for he has given you six years with ^[ak]double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.

¹⁹ “^(AK)You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. ^20 (AL)You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses. ^21 (AM)But if it has any ^[al]defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious ^[am]defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² You shall eat it within your gates; ^(AN)the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as ^(AO)a gazelle or a deer. ²³ Only ^(AP)you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

The Feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Booths

16 “Observe ^(AQ)the month of Abib and ^[an](AR)celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ² You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. ^3 (AS)You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember ^(AT)all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. ⁴ For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and ^(AU)none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. ⁵ You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your ^[ao]towns which the Lord your God is giving you; ⁶ but ^(AV)at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. ⁷ You shall ^(AW)cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. ⁸ Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and ^(AX)on the seventh day there shall be ^(AY)a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.

⁹ “^(AZ)You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰ Then you shall ^[ap]celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; ¹¹ and you shall ^(BA)rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and ^(BB)the Levite who is in your ^[aq]town, and ^(BC)the stranger and the ^[ar]orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. ^12 (BD)You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

¹³ “^(BE)You shall ^[as]celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; ¹⁴ and you shall ^(BF)rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the ^[at]orphan and the widow who are in your ^[au]towns. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall celebrate a 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 will be altogether joyful.

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

¹⁸ “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your ^[aw]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ^19 (BI)You shall not distort justice; ^(BJ)you shall not ^[ax]be partial, and ^(BK)you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. ²⁰ Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that ^(BL)you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹ “^(BM)You shall not plant for yourself an ^[ay]Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. ^22 (BN)You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates.

Administration of Justice

17 “^(BO)You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any ^[az]defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.

² “^(BP)If there is found in your midst, in any of your ^[ba]towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, ³ and has gone and ^(BQ)served other gods and worshiped them, ^(BR)or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, ^(BS)which I have not commanded, ⁴ and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and ^(BT)you shall stone them to ^[bb]death. ^6 (BU)On the ^[bc]evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the ^[bd]evidence of one witness. ^7 (BV)The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ^(BW)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁸ “^(BX)If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between ^[be]one kind of homicide or another, between ^[bf]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ^[bg]one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your ^[bh]courts, then you shall arise and go up to ^(BY)the place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ So you shall come to ^(BZ)the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. ¹⁰ You shall do according to the ^[bi]terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you. ^11 (CA)According to the ^[bj]terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. ¹² The man who acts ^(CB)presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. ¹³ Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act ^(CC)presumptuously again.

¹⁴ “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you ^(CD)possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘^(CE)I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one ^(CF)from among your ^[bk]countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your ^[bl]countryman. ^16 (CG)Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he ^(CH)cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since ^(CI)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ ^17 (CJ)He shall not multiply wives for himself, ^[bm]or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll ^[bn](CK)in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It shall be with him and he shall read it ^(CL)all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, ^[bo]by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰ that his heart may not be lifted up above his ^[bp]countrymen ^(CM)and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.