²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His ^(A)Angel^[a] and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! ^29 (B)Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the ^(C)God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be ^(D)cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; ^(E)because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

¹² Also ^(A)the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, ^(B)at the word of the Lord.

Punishment of Apostates

13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a ^(A)dreamer of dreams, ^(B)and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and ^(C)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 ^(D)is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall ^(E)walk^[a] after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and ^(F)hold fast to Him. ⁵ But ^(G)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. ^(H)So you shall ^[b]put away the evil from your midst.

^6 (I)“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, ^(J)the wife ^[c]of your bosom, or your friend ^(K)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 ^(L)not ^[d]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 ^(M)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 ^(N)fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

^12 (O)“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ^13 [e]‘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 ^[f]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 ^[g]completely ^(P)burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^(Q)a ^[h]heap forever; it shall not be built again. ^17 (R)So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^(S)turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ^[i]multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^(T)to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Penalties for Breaking the Law

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (A)“Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ^(B)‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who ^[a]dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall ^(C)stone him with stones. ^3 (D)I will set My face against that man, and will ^[b]cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land should in any way ^[c]hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, ⁵ then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

⁶ ‘And ^(E)the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. ^7 (F)Consecrate^[d] yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ And you shall keep ^(G)My statutes, and perform them: ^(H)I am the Lord who ^[e]sanctifies you.

⁹ ‘For ^(I)everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. ^(J)His blood shall be upon him.

^10 (K)‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. ¹¹ The man who lies with his ^(L)father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹² If a man lies with his ^(M)daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. ^13 (N)If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹⁴ If a man marries a woman and her ^(O)mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. ¹⁵ If a man mates with an ^(P)animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹⁷ ‘If a man takes his ^(Q)sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be ^[f]cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his ^[g]guilt. ^18 (R)If a man lies with a woman during her ^[h]sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has ^[i]exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be ^[j]cut off from their people.

¹⁹ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your ^(S)mother’s sister nor of your ^(T)father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt. ²⁰ If a man lies with his ^(U)uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. ²¹ If a man takes his ^(V)brother’s wife, it is an ^[k]unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

²² ‘You shall therefore keep all My ^(W)statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell ^(X)may not vomit you out. ^23 (Y)And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and ^(Z)therefore I abhor them. ²⁴ But ^(AA)I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, ^(AB)who has separated you from the peoples. ^25 (AC)You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, ^(AD)and you shall not make yourselves ^[l]abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as ^[m]unclean. ²⁶ And you shall be holy to Me, ^(AE)for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

^27 (AF)‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”

The Law Concerning Servants^(A)

21 “Now these are the ^[a]judgments which you shall ^(B)set before them: ^2 (C)If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. ³ If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ^5 (D)But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him to the ^(E)judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

⁷ “And if a man ^(F)sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. ⁸ If she ^[b]does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. ⁹ And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. ¹⁰ If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, ^(G)and her marriage rights. ¹¹ And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.

The Law Concerning Violence

^12 (H)“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. ¹³ However, ^(I)if he did not lie in wait, but God ^(J)delivered him into his hand, then ^(K)I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

¹⁴ “But if a man acts with ^(L)premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, ^(M)you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.

¹⁵ “And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

^16 (N)“He who kidnaps a man and ^(O)sells him, or if he is ^(P)found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷ “And ^(Q)he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸ “If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, ¹⁹ if he rises again and walks about outside ^(R)with his staff, then he who struck him shall be ^[c]acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰ “And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. ²¹ Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his ^(S)property.

²² “If men ^[d]fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that ^[e]she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall ^(T)pay as the judges determine.