Deuteronomy 18-28

English Standard Version

Provision for Priests and Levites

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

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

Abominable Practices

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

A New Prophet like Moses

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

Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge

19 “When ^(AE)the Lord your God cuts 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 (AF)you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ You shall measure the distances^[g] and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

⁴ “This is the provision for ^(AG)the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— ⁵ as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, ⁶ lest ^(AH)the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. ⁷ Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. ^8 (AI)And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, ^(AJ)as he has sworn to your fathers, and ^(AK)gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—^(AL)then you shall add three other cities to these three, ¹⁰ lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹ “But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him ^(AM)and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 (AN)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(AO)but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood^[h] from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Property Boundaries

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

Laws Concerning Witnesses

¹⁵ “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. ^(AQ)Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. ¹⁶ If ^(AR)a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, ^(AS)before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. ¹⁸ The judges shall ^(AT)inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, ^19 (AU)then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil^[i] from your midst. ²⁰ And the rest ^(AV)shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. ^21 (AW)Your eye shall not pity. ^(AX)It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Laws Concerning Warfare

20 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see ^(AY)horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is ^(AZ)with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. ² And when you draw near to the battle, ^(BA)the priest shall come forward and speak to the people ³ and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, ⁴ for the Lord your God is he who goes with you ^(BB)to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’ ⁵ Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶ And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not ^(BC)enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. ^7 (BD)And is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’ ⁸ And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ^(BE)‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’ ⁹ And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

¹⁰ “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, ^(BF)offer terms of peace to it. ¹¹ And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. ¹² But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(BG)you shall put all its males to the sword, ^14 (BH)but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you ^(BI)shall take as plunder for yourselves. And ^(BJ)you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. ¹⁶ But ^(BK)in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, ¹⁷ but ^(BL)you shall devote them to complete destruction,^[j] the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, ¹⁸ that ^(BM)they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you ^(BN)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, ^(BO)you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? ²⁰ Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

Atonement for Unsolved Murders

21 “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, ² then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. ³ And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer ^(BP)that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. ⁴ And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. ⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen ^(BQ)them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and ^(BR)by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. ⁶ And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man ^(BS)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. ⁸ Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and ^(BT)do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ ⁹ So ^(BU)you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Marrying Female Captives

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, ¹² and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. ¹³ And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and ^(BV)lament 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 But if you no longer delight in her, you shall ^(BW)let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you ^(BX)treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.

Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, ^(BY)the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,^{[k] 16} then on the day when ^(BZ)he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, ¹⁷ but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is ^(CA)the firstfruits of his strength. ^(CB)The right of the firstborn is his.

A 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, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, ²⁰ and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ^21 (CC)Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. ^(CD)So you shall purge the evil from your midst, ^(CE)and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

²² “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ^23 (CF)his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for ^(CG)a hanged man is cursed by God. ^(CH)You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Various Laws

22 “You ^(CI)shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. ² And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. ³ And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. ^4 (CJ)You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.

⁵ “A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, ^(CK)for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶ “If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(CL)you shall not take the mother with the young. ⁷ You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, ^(CM)that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

^9 (CN)“You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited,^[l] the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. ¹⁰ You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹ You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.

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

Laws Concerning Sexual Immorality

¹³ “If any man takes a wife and ^(CP)goes in to her and then hates her ¹⁴ and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ ¹⁵ then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. ¹⁶ And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; ¹⁷ and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip^[m] him, ¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels^[n] of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin^[o] of Israel. And she shall be his wife. ^(CQ)He may not divorce her all his days. ²⁰ But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, ²¹ then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and ^(CR)the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has ^(CS)done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. ^(CT)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

^22 (CU)“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. ^(CV)So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

²³ “If there is a ^(CW)betrothed virgin, and a man meets 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 for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. ^(CX)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

²⁵ “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes 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; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, ²⁷ because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

^28 (CY)“If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, ²⁹ then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days.

^{30 [p] (CZ)}“A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not ^(DA)uncover his father's nakedness.^[q]

Those Excluded from the Assembly

23 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

^2 (DB)“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

^3 (DC)“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, ^4 (DD)because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they ^(DE)hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^(DF)Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned ^(DG)the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. ⁶ You ^(DH)shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.

⁷ “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for ^(DI)he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because ^(DJ)you were a sojourner in his land. ⁸ Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

⁹ “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

¹⁰ “If any man among you becomes ^(DK)unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, ¹¹ but when evening comes, he shall ^(DL)bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.

¹² “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. ¹³ And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ Because ^(DM)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

^15 (DN)“You shall not give up to his master a slave^[r] who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

¹⁷ “None of the ^(DO)daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none ^(DP)of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog^[s] into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

^19 (DQ)“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, ^(DR)interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. ^20 (DS)You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, ^(DT)that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

^21 (DU)“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. ²² But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. ²³ You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴ “If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. ²⁵ If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, ^(DV)you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.

Laws Concerning Divorce

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and ^(DW)he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, ² and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, ³ and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, ⁴ then ^(DX)her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

^5 (DY)“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year ^(DZ)to be happy with his wife^[t] whom he has taken.

⁶ “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.

^7 (EA)“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he ^(EB)treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. ^(EC)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁸ “Take care, in ^(ED)a case of leprous^[u] disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to ^(EE)Miriam ^(EF)on the way as you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹² And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. ^13 (EG)You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and ^(EH)bless you. And ^(EI)it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not ^(EJ)oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. ^15 (EK)You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), ^(EL)lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

^16 (EM)“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

^17 (EN)“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, ^(EO)or take a widow's garment in pledge, ¹⁸ but ^(EP)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.

^19 (EQ)“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 sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, ^(ER)that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ^22 (ES)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

25 “If there is a ^(ET)dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, ^(EU)acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, ² then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. ^3 (EV)Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.

^4 (EW)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

^5 (EX)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her ^(EY)husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. ⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(EZ)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall ^(FA)go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ^(FB)‘I do not wish to take her,’ ⁹ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and ^(FC)pull his sandal off his foot and ^(FD)spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not ^(FE)build up his brother's house.’ ¹⁰ And the name of his house^[v] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

Miscellaneous Laws

¹¹ “When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, ¹² then you shall cut off her hand. ^(FF)Your eye shall have no pity.

¹³ “You ^(FG)shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. ¹⁴ You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵ A full and fair^[w] weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, ^(FH)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For ^(FI)all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, ^(FJ)are an abomination to the Lord your God.

^17 (FK)“Remember what Amalek did to you ^(FL)on the way as you came out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and ^(FM)cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore ^(FN)when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall ^(FO)blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, ^2 (FP)you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall ^(FQ)go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. ³ And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land ^(FR)that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

⁵ “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A ^(FS)wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, ^(FT)few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶ And ^(FU)the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. ⁷ Then ^(FV)we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸ And ^(FW)the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(FX)with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror,^[x] with signs and wonders. ⁹ And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, ^(FY)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹ And ^(FZ)you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

¹² “When you have finished paying all ^(GA)the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is ^(GB)the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, ¹³ then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, ^(GC)nor have I forgotten them. ^14 (GD)I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it ^(GE)to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. ^15 (GF)Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶ “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. ^17 (GG)You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. ¹⁸ And the Lord has declared today that you are ^(GH)a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, ¹⁹ and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor ^(GI)high above all nations ^(GJ)that he has made, and that you shall be ^(GK)a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. ² And on the day ^(GL)you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. ^3 (GM)And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(GN)a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, ^(GO)on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. ⁵ And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. ^(GP)You shall wield no iron tool on them; ⁶ you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut^[y] stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, ⁷ and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and ^(GQ)shall eat there, and you ^(GR)shall rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸ And ^(GS)you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Curses from Mount Ebal

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: ^(GT)this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

¹¹ That day Moses charged the people, saying, ¹² “When you have crossed over the Jordan, ^(GU)these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ And ^(GV)the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

^15 (GW)“‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ ^(GX)And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

^16 (GY)“‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^17 (GZ)“‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^18 (HA)“‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^19 (HB)“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^20 (HC)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has ^(HD)uncovered his father's nakedness.’^[z] And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^21 (HE)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^22 (HF)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^23 (HG)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^24 (HH)“‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^25 (HI)“‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^26 (HJ)“‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(HK)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(HL)high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(HM)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(HN)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be ^(HO)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(HP)kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be ^(HQ)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(HR)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord ^(HS)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(HT)in all that you undertake. ^(HU)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (HV)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And ^(HW)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(HX)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(HY)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(HZ)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(IA)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(IB)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(IC)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(ID)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you ^(IE)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ^14 (IF)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(IG)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(IH)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(II)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(IJ)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(IK)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(IL)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(IM)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (IN)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[aa] and with ^(IO)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(IP)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.