Beginning

24 ¶ When a man has taken a wife and married her, and it comes to pass that she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her; then let him write her a bill of divorce and give it in her hand and send her out of his house.

² And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.

³ And if the latter husband hates her and writes her a bill of divorce and gives it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies,

⁴ her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she is defiled, for that is abomination before the LORD; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance.

⁵ ¶ When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business; but he shall be free at home one year and shall cheer up his wife whom he has taken.

⁶ No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone for a pledge, for he takes a man’s life to pledge.

⁷ When a man is found stealing any of his brethren of the sons of Israel and making merchandise of him or selling him, then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

⁸ Keep yourselves from the plague of leprosy that thou observe diligently and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you; as I commanded them, so ye shall take care to do.

⁹ Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way after ye were come forth out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to take his pledge.

¹¹ Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring the pledge out unto thee.

¹² And if the man is poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge.

¹³ Without fail thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goes down that he may sleep in his own clothing and bless thee, and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

¹⁴ ¶ Thou shalt not do violence unto a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates.

¹⁵ In his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and with it sustains his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

¹⁶ The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷ Thou shalt not twist the rights of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a widow’s clothing for a pledge,

¹⁸ but thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the LORD thy God ransomed thee from there; therefore, I command thee to do this thing.

¹⁹ When thou doest reap thy harvest in thy field and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to bring it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, or for the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

²⁰ When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

²¹ When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

²² And thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore, I command thee to do this thing.

25 ¶ If there is a controversy between persons and they come unto judgment and they are judged, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

² And it shall be if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten in his presence, according to his fault, by a certain number.

³ Forty stripes he may give him and not exceed lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should be despised before thee.

⁴ Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.

⁵ ¶ When brethren dwell together and one of them dies and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her.

⁶ And it shall be that the firstborn which she bears shall be raised up in the name of his brother who is dead that his name be not blotted out of Israel.

⁷ And if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say, My husband’s brother refuses to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.

⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him, and if he stands and says, I desire not to take her;

⁹ then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house.

¹⁰ And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that is barefoot.

¹¹ When men strive together one with another and the wife of the one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smites him and puts forth her hand and takes him by his secret parts;

¹² then thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not pity her.

¹³ ¶ Thou shalt not have in thy bag different weights, a great and a small.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not have in thy house different measures, a great and a small.

¹⁵ But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have, that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God gives thee.

¹⁶ For all that do such things and all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

¹⁷ Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt,

¹⁸ how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary and he did not fear God.

¹⁹ Therefore it shall be when the LORD thy God has given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance to possess it that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.

26 ¶ And it shall be when thou art come in unto the land, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance and possess it and dwell therein,

² thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God gives thee, and shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell.

³ And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days and say unto him, I declare today unto the LORD thy God that I have entered into the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers to give us.

⁴ And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.

⁵ Then thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, My father, the Syrian, perishing of hunger went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a nation, great, mighty, and many;

⁶ and the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage.

⁷ And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labour and our oppression.

⁸ And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terribleness and with signs and with wonders;

⁹ and he has brought us into this place and has given us this land, even a land that flows with milk and honey.

¹⁰ And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God and worship before the LORD thy God.

¹¹ And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God has given unto thee and unto thine house, thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you.

¹² ¶ When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy fruits the third year, which is the year of tithing and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates and be filled;

¹³ then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought the consecrated things out of my house and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

¹⁴ I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken out any of it being unclean, nor have I given any of it for the dead; but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

¹⁵ Look down from the habitation of thy holiness, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst sware unto our fathers, a land that flows with milk and honey.

¹⁶ ¶ Today the LORD thy God has commanded thee to comply with these statutes and rights; take care, therefore, to keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul.

¹⁷ Thou hast lifted up the LORD today to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his rights and to hearken unto his voice.

¹⁸ And the LORD has lifted thee up this day to be his unique people, as he has promised thee, and that thou should keep all his commandments,

¹⁹ and to make thee high above all the Gentiles which he has made, in praise, and in fame, and in glory; and that thou may be a holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he has spoken.

27 ¶ And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.

² And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass the Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God gives thee that thou shalt set thee up great stones and plaster them with plaster;

³ And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law when thou has passed to enter in unto the land which the LORD thy God gives thee, a land that flows with milk and honey, as the LORD God of thy fathers has said unto thee.

⁴ Therefore, it shall be when ye have passed the Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster.

⁵ And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

⁶ Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones, and thou shalt offer burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD thy God;

⁷ and thou shalt offer peace offerings and shalt eat there and rejoice before the LORD thy God.

⁸ And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

⁹ And Moses with the priests the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying, Take heed and hearken, O Israel; today thou art become the people of the LORD thy God.

¹⁰ Thou shalt, therefore, hear the voice of the LORD thy God and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.

¹¹ ¶ And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,

¹² These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people when ye have passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

¹³ And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to pronounce the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴ And the Levites shall speak and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice:

¹⁵ Cursed is the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

¹⁶ Cursed is he that dishonours his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

¹⁷ Cursed is he that reduces his neighbour’s border. And all the people shall say, Amen.

¹⁸ Cursed is he that makes the blind to err in the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

¹⁹ Cursed is he that twists the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²⁰ Cursed is he that lies with his father’s wife because he uncovers his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²¹ Cursed is he that lies with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²² Cursed is he that lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²³ Cursed is he that lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²⁴ Cursed is he that smites his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²⁵ Cursed is he that takes a bribe to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²⁶ Cursed is he that does not confirm all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.