Beginning
17 “You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or sheep that has a physical defect[a] of anything seriously wrong,[b] for that is a detestable thing to Yahweh your God. 2 If there is found in one of your towns[c] that Yahweh your God is giving to you a man or a woman that does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God to transgress his covenant 3 and by going and serving other gods and so he bows down to them and to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of heaven which I have forbidden,[d] 4 and it is reported to you or you hear about it and you enquire about it thoroughly and, indeed,[e] the trustworthiness of the deed[f] has been established, it has occurred,[g] this detestable thing, in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has[h] done this evil thing to your gates; that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones to death.[i] 6 On the evidence of[j] two or three witnesses the person shall be put to death.[k] The person[l] shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the person[m] to kill the person,[n] and afterward the hands[o] of all the people, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
8 “If a matter is too difficult for you,[p] for example disputes between blood and blood,[q] between legal claim and legal claim[r] and between assault and assault[s] and between matters of discernment in your towns,[t] then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; 9 then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be in office in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you the verdict.[u]
10 “And you shall carry out exactly the decision[v] that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and you shall diligently observe[w] according to all that they instruct you. 11 And so according to the instruction of the law[x] that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or to the left. 12 And the man who treats with contempt[y] so as not to listen to the priest who is standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people will hear and will be afraid, and they will not behave presumptuously again.
14 “When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God is giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, ‘I will set over me a king like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen[z] you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who is not your countryman.[aa] 16 Except, he may not make numerous[ab] for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to to go to Egypt in order to increase horses,[ac] for Yahweh has said to you that you may never return.[ad] 17 And he must not acquire many[ae] wives for himself, so that his heart would turn aside; and he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively.[af]
18 “And then[ag] when he is sitting[ah] on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll before[ai] the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it[aj] all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by diligently observing[ak] all the word of this law and these rules, 20 so as not to exalt his heart above his countrymen[al] and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that he may reign long over his kingdom,[am] he and his children in the midst of Israel.”
18 “And there shall not be for the Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, a plot of ground and an inheritance with Israel, rather they may eat an offering made by fire as their inheritance,[an] for Yahweh. 2 And there shall not be for them[ao] an inheritance of land in the midst of his brothers; rather Yahweh is his inheritance, just as he promised[ap] to them.[aq]
3 Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from those who sacrifice the sacrifice,[ar] whether it is an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach. 4 The firstfruits[as] of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil and the firstfruits[at] of the fleece of your sheep you shall give to him. 5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him from among all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, he and his sons forever.[au]
6 And if a[av] Levite comes from one of your towns[aw] from anywhere in Israel[ax] where he is residing, he may come whenever he desires,[ay] to the place that Yahweh will choose, 7 and he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God, just like all his brothers, the Levites who stand there[az] before[ba] Yahweh. 8 They shall eat equal portions,[bb] apart from what he may receive from the sale of his patrimony.[bc]
9 “When you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, you must not learn to do like the detestable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or one who practices divination,[bd] or an interpreter of signs,[be] or an augur,[bf] or sorcerer, 11 or one who casts magic spells, or one who consults a spirit of the dead,[bg] or spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead.[bh] 12 For everyone doing these things is detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you.[bi] 13 You must be blameless before Yahweh your God. 14 For these nations that you are about to dispossess listen to interpreters of signs[bj] and to diviners, but Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do the same.
15 “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen,[bk] and to him you shall listen. 16 This is according to all that you asked[bl] from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, saying,[bm] ‘I do not want again to hear[bn] the voice of Yahweh my God, and I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!’ 17 And Yahweh said to me, ‘They are right in what they have said. 18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their countrymen[bo] like you, and I will place[bp] my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.[bq] 19 And then[br] the man that will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I will hold accountable. 20 However, the prophet that behaves presumptuously by speaking a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, and who speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say to yourself,[bs] ‘How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken to him?’ 22 Whenever what the prophet spoke in the name of Yahweh, the thing does not take place and does not come about, that is the thing that Yahweh has not spoken to him.[bt] Presumptuously the prophet spoke it; you shall not fear that[bu] prophet.”
19 “When Yahweh your God has exterminated[bv] the nations concerning whom Yahweh your God is giving to you their land, and you have dispossessed them, and you have settled in their towns and in their houses, 2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it. 3 You shall prepare the roads[bw] for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that it will be available for any manslayer to flee there.[bx]
4 “Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live there who has killed his neighbor unintentionally,[by] and he did not hate him previously.[bz] 5 For example,[ca] when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron head slips from the handle of the tool and strikes his neighbor and he dies, then he may flee to one of these cities, and so he may live. 6 He does this lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because he is hot with anger[cb] and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance to the city of refuge, and so he kills him,[cc] but he did not deserve a death sentence,[cd] because he was not hating him before.[ce] 7 Therefore I am commanding you, saying,[cf] ‘You shall set apart three cities.’ 8 Then if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory just as he swore to your ancestors[cg] and gives[ch] to you all the land that he promised[ci] to give to your ancestors,[cj] 9 then if you diligently observe this entire commandment[ck] that I am commanding you today[cl] by loving Yahweh your God and by going[cm] in his ways at all times,[cn] then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three. 10 Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed[co] in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance and thereby bloodguilt would be on you.[cp]
11 But if someone hates[cq] his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up[cr] against him and murders him,[cs] and the murderer flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death. 13 Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that good will be directed toward you.[ct]
14 “You shall not move the boundary marker of your neighbor that former generations[cu] set up on your property in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it. 15 The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict[cv] with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person[cw] committed; on the evidence[cx] of two witnesses or on the evidence[cy] of three witnesses a charge shall be sustained.[cz] 16 If a malicious witness[da] gets up to accuse[db] anyone to testify against him falsely, 17 then the two men to whom the legal dispute pertains[dc] shall stand before[dd] Yahweh, before[de] the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 Then judges shall make a thorough inquiry, and if it turns out[df] that the witness is a false witness and he testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he meant[dg] to do to his brother, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest[dh] shall hear and shall fear, and they shall not continue to do such a thing again[di] as this evil thing in your midst. 21 You must show no pity:[dj] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
20 “If you go out to war against your enemies and you see a horse and a chariot, an army[dk] larger that you, you shall not be afraid because of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, the one who brought you from the land of Egypt. 2 And then[dl] when you approach the battle, then the priest shall come near and speak to the troops. 3 And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are near today[dm] to the battle against your enemies; do not lose heart;[dn] you shall not be afraid, and you shall not panic, and you shall not be terrified because of them,[do] 4 for Yahweh your God is going with you to fight for you against your enemies to help you.’ 5 And the officials shall speak to the troops, saying,[dp] ‘Who is the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to this house, so that he does not die in battle and another man[dq] dedicates it. 6 And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed it? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man[dr] enjoys it. 7 And who is the man who got engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man[ds] marries her.’ 8 And the officials shall continue to speak to the troops, and they shall say, ‘What man[dt] is afraid and disheartened?[du] Let him go, and let him return to his house, and let him not cause the heart of his brothers to melt[dv] like his.’ 9 And when the officials have finished speaking[dw] to the army troops, then they shall appoint commanders of divisions at the head of the troops.
10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you must offer it peace.[dx] 11 And then[dy] if they accept your terms of peace[dz] and they surrender to you,[ea] and then[eb] all the people inhabiting it[ec] shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you. 12 But if they do not accept your terms of peace[ed] and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.[ee] 13 And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge[ef] of the sword. 14 Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals[eg] and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the far[eh] cities from you, which are not from the cities of these nations located nearby.[ei]
16 But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.[ej] 17 Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites[ek] and the Amorites,[el] the Canaanites[em] and the Perizzites,[en] the Hivites,[eo] and the Jebusites,[ep] just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.
19 “If[eq] you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them,[er] for you may eat from them,[es] and so you must not cut them[et] down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege against you?[eu] 20 Only[ev] the trees[ew] that you know are not fruit trees[ex] you may destroy and you may cut down, and you may build siege works against that city that is making war with you until it falls.”[ey]
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software