²⁶ All who will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.”

¹¹ Furthermore, I decree that, if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of the house of the perpetrator, who then shall be impaled on it. The house shall be made a dunghill.^(A)

13 ^[a]“If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and show you omens or portents,^{(A) 2} and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them,’^{(B) 3} you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.^{(C) 4} The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.^{(D) 5} But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.^(E)

⁶ “If anyone secretly entices you—even if it is your brother, your father’s son or^[b] your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend—saying, ‘Let us go serve other gods,’ whom neither you nor your ancestors have known,^{(F) 7} any of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other, ⁸ you must not yield to or heed any such persons. Show them no pity or compassion, and do not shield them. ⁹ But you shall surely kill them; your own hand shall be first against them to execute them and afterward the hand of all the people.^{(G) 10} Stone them to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel shall hear and be afraid and never again do any such wickedness.^(H)

¹² “If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, ¹³ that scoundrels from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ whom you have not known,^{(I) 14} then you shall inquire and make a thorough investigation. If the charge is established that such an abhorrent thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you shall put the inhabitants of that town to the sword, utterly destroying it and everything in it, even putting its livestock to the sword.^{(J) 16} All of its spoil you shall gather into its public square, then burn the town and all its spoil with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall remain a perpetual ruin, never to be rebuilt.^{(K) 17} Do not let anything devoted to destruction stick to your hand, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you compassion, and in his compassion multiply you, as he swore to your ancestors,^{(L) 18} if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.^(M)

Penalties for Violations of Holiness

20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Say further to the Israelites:

“Any of the Israelites or of the aliens who reside in Israel who give any of their offspring to Molech shall be put to death; the people of the land shall stone them to death.^{(A) 3} I myself will set my face against them and will cut them off from the people, because they have given of their offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name.^{(B) 4} And if the people of the land should ever close their eyes to them, when they give of their offspring to Molech, and do not put them to death,^{(C) 5} I myself will set my face against them and against their family and will cut them off from among their people, them and all who follow them in prostituting themselves to Molech.

⁶ “If any turn to mediums or spiritualists, prostituting themselves to them, I will set my face against them and will cut them off from the people.^{(D) 7} Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.^{(E) 8} Keep my statutes and observe them: I am the Lord; I sanctify you.^{(F) 9} All who curse father or mother shall be put to death; having cursed father or mother, their bloodguilt is upon them.^(G)

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery with the wife of^[a] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.^{(H) 11} The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.^{(I) 12} If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed perversion; their bloodguilt is upon them.^{(J) 13} If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.^{(K) 14} If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is depravity; they shall be burned to death, both he and they, that there may be no depravity among you.^{(L) 15} If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he shall be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.^{(M) 16} If a woman approaches any animal and has sexual relations with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.

¹⁷ “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people; he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall be subject to punishment.^{(N) 18} If a man lies with a woman during her period and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has laid bare her flow of blood; both of them shall be cut off from their people.^{(O) 19} You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to lay bare one’s own flesh; they shall be subject to punishment.^{(P) 20} If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall be subject to punishment; they shall die childless.^{(Q) 21} If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.^(R)

²² “You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and observe them, so that the land to which I bring you to settle in may not vomit you out.^{(S) 23} You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.^{(T) 24} But 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; I have separated you from the peoples.’^{(U) 25} You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.^{(V) 26} You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.^(W)

²⁷ “A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritualist shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.”^(X)

The Law concerning Slaves

21 “These are the ordinances that you shall set before them:^(A)

² “When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt.^{(B) 3} If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. ⁵ But if the slave declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person,’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him for life.^(C)

⁷ “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.^{(D) 8} If she does not please her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her. ⁹ If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. ¹⁰ If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.^{[a](E) 11} And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money.

The Law concerning Violence

¹² “Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death.^{(F) 13} If it was not premeditated but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.^{(G) 14} But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.^(H)

¹⁵ “Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁶ “Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.^(I)

¹⁷ “Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.^(J)

¹⁸ “When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed ¹⁹ but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time and to arrange for full recovery.

²⁰ “When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. ²¹ But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment, for the slave is the owner’s property.^(K)

²² “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.

²⁶ I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people shall tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.^{(A) 29} Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”^(B)

¹² The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the officials commanded by the word of the Lord.