Beginning

17 ¶ Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock or sheep in which there is a blemish or anything wrong, for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

² If there is found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God gives thee, man or woman that has wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God in transgressing his covenant

³ and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,

⁴ and it is told unto thee and thou hast heard of it and enquired diligently, and, behold, it is true, and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel,

⁵ then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones until they die.

⁶ At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

⁷ The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

⁸ ¶ If a matter arises that is too difficult for thee in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates, then thou shalt arise and go up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose,

⁹ and thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days and enquire, and they shall show thee the word of judgment.

¹⁰ And thou shalt do according to the word which those of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall show thee.

¹¹ According to the word of the law which they shall show thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not decline from the word which they shall show thee, to the right hand nor to the left.

¹² And the man that will act presumptuously and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

¹³ And all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously.

¹⁴ ¶ When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God gives thee and shalt inherit it and shalt dwell therein and shalt say, I will set a king over me like all the Gentiles that are round about me;

¹⁵ Thou shalt surely appoint as king over thee the one whom the LORD thy God shall choose; one from among thy brethren shalt thou set as king over thee; thou may not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy brother.

¹⁶ Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; for the LORD has said unto you, Ye shall not procure to return any more to that way.

¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver or gold.

¹⁸ And it shall be when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall cause a copy of this second law to be written in a book in the presence of the priests the Levites;

¹⁹ and it shall be near unto him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them,

²⁰ that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

18 ¶ The priests the Levites and all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor shall they inherit with Israel; they shall eat of the offerings on fire unto the LORD and of his inheritance.

² Therefore, shall they have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as he has said unto them.

³ And this shall be the right of the priest from the people, from those that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; they shall give unto the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw.

⁴ The firstfruits also of thy grain, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstfruits of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him;

⁵ for the LORD thy God has chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister unto the name of the LORD, him and his sons all the days.

⁶ And when a Levite comes from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and comes with all the desire of his soul unto the place which the LORD shall choose,

⁷ then he shall minister unto the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do who stand there before the LORD.

⁸ They shall have like portions to eat besides that which comes of the sale of his patrimony.

⁹ ¶ When thou shall have come into the land which the LORD thy God gives thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those Gentiles.

¹⁰ There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire or that uses divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch

¹¹ or a charmer or a spiritist or a diviner or a necromancer.

¹² For anyone that does these things is an abomination unto the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD thy God drove them out from before thee.

¹³ Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

¹⁴ For these Gentiles, whom thou shalt inherit, hearkened unto observers of times and unto diviners, but as for thee, the LORD thy God has not allowed thee to do so.

¹⁵ ¶ The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken,

¹⁶ according to all that thou didst desire of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, lest I die.

¹⁷ And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

¹⁸ I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass that whoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

²⁰ But the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

²¹ And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?

²² When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not follow nor come to pass, it is a word which the LORD has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him.

19 ¶ When the LORD thy God has cut off the Gentiles whose land the LORD thy God gives thee, and thou hast inherited them and dost dwell in their cities and in their houses,

² thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit.

³ Thou shalt prepare thee a way and divide the borders of thy land, which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit, into three parts, so that every manslayer may flee there.

⁴ And this is the case of the manslayer who is to flee there, that he may live: whoever kills his neighbour by mistake, whom he hated not in time past;

⁵ and he who went into the woods with his neighbour to cut firewood and his hand fetched a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree and the head slipped from the handle and lighted upon his neighbour so that he died, he shall flee unto one of those cities and live,

⁶ lest the avenger {Heb. redeemer} of the blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him, whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

⁷ Therefore, I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

⁸ And if the LORD thy God enlarges thy borders, as he has sworn unto thy fathers, and gives thee all the land which he was to give unto thy fathers,

⁹ when thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day: to love the LORD thy God, and to walk all the days in his ways, then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three,

¹⁰ that innocent blood not be shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance, and the blood shall not be upon thee.

¹¹ But when any man hates his neighbour and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and smites him mortally that he dies and flees into one of these cities,

¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger {Heb. redeemer} of blood, and he shall die.

¹³ Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with thee.

¹⁴ ¶ Thou shalt not reduce thy neighbour’s border, which those of old time have marked in thine inheritance, which thou shalt possess in the land that the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit.

¹⁵ One witness shall not be valid against a man for any iniquity or for any sin, in any sin which he should commit. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

¹⁶ When a false witness rises up against any man to testify rebellion against him,

¹⁷ then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, who shall be in those days;

¹⁸ and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and, behold, if the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother,

¹⁹ then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

²⁰ And those who remain shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you.

²¹ And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

20 ¶ When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

² And it shall be, when ye are come near unto the battle that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people

³ and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them,

⁴ for the LORD your God is he that goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁵ And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house lest peradventure he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.

⁶ And who has planted a vineyard and has not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house lest peradventure he die in the battle and another man eat of it.

⁷ And what man is there that has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house lest peradventure he die in the battle and another man take her.

⁸ And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and a coward at heart? Let him go and return unto his house that he not cause his brethren’s hearts to become as his heart.

⁹ And it shall be when the officers have finished speaking unto the people that the captains of the armies shall lead before the people.

¹⁰ ¶ When thou comest near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

¹¹ And it shall be, if it makes thee an answer of peace and opens unto thee, that all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

¹² And if it will make no peace with thee but will make war against thee, and if thou should besiege it,

¹³ and if the LORD thy God should deliver it into thine hands, then thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ Only the women and the little ones and the animals and all that is in the city, all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat of the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God has given thee.

¹⁵ Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these Gentiles.

¹⁶ Only of the cities of these peoples, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breathes;

¹⁷ but thou shalt utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD thy God has commanded thee,

¹⁸ that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they do unto their gods, lest ye should sin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹ When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them, for thou may eat of them; and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege.

²⁰ Only the trees which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that makes war with thee, until it is subdued.