Bible in 90 Days
God’s Gracious Dealings
8 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you (A)may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. 2 (B)And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has (C)led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, (D)putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you [a]understand that (E)man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. 4 (F)Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 (G)So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to [b]fear Him. 7 For (H)the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When (I)you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
11 “Be careful that you do not (J)forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12 otherwise, (K)when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, 14 then your heart will [c]become proud and you will (L)forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of [d]slavery; 15 He who led you through (M)the great and terrible wilderness, with its (N)fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who (O)brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16 In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna (P)which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to (Q)put you to the test, to do good for you [e]in the end. 17 Otherwise, (R)you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18 But you are to remember the Lord your God, for (S)it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And it shall come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, (T)I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord eliminates from you, so (U)you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
Israel Provoked God
9 “Hear, Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess (V)nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are great and (W)fortified to heaven, 2 a people who are great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘(X)Who can stand against the sons of Anak?’ 3 So be aware today that (Y)it is the Lord your God who is crossing over ahead of you as (Z)a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that (AA)you may drive them out and eliminate them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.
4 “(AB)Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them away from [f]you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to take possession of this land.’ Rather, it is (AC)because of the [g]wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. 5 It is (AD)not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land, [h]but it is because of the [i]wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and in order to confirm (AE)the [j]oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 “Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are (AF)a [k]stubborn people. 7 Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness; (AG)from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8 Even (AH)at Horeb you provoked the Lord to anger, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. 9 When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I remained on the mountain for forty days and nights; (AI)I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone (AJ)written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 It came about (AK)at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 (AL)Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have behaved corruptly. They have (AM)quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast metal image for themselves.’ 13 The (AN)Lord also said to [l]me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a [m](AO)stubborn people. 14 (AP)Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and (AQ)wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
15 “(AR)So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a cast metal image of a calf; you had quickly turned aside from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands, and smashed them to pieces before your eyes! 18 (AS)Then I fell down before the Lord (AT)like the first time, for forty days and nights; (AU)I neither ate bread nor drank water, (AV)because of all your sin which you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 19 For (AW)I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the Lord was angry with you so as to destroy you; (AX)but the Lord listened to me that time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 (AY)And I took your [n]sinful thing which you had made, the calf, and burned it in the fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.
22 “Then at (AZ)Taberah, at (BA)Massah, and at (BB)Kibroth-hattaavah you kept provoking the Lord to anger. 23 And when the Lord sent you from (BC)Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘(BD)Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ you rebelled against the [o]command of the Lord your God; (BE)you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice. 24 (BF)You have been rebellious toward the Lord since the day I knew you.
25 “(BG)So I fell down before the Lord for the forty days and nights, which I [p]did because the Lord said He would destroy you. 26 (BH)And I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand! 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin. 28 Otherwise, the people of the land from which You brought us will say, “(BI)Since the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had [q]promised them, and since He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness!” 29 Yet they are Your people, and (BJ)Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your (BK)great power and Your outstretched arm.’
The Tablets Rewritten
10 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘(BL)Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first two, and come up to Me on the mountain, and (BM)make an [r]ark of wood for yourself. 2 Then (BN)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed to pieces, and (BO)you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So (BP)I made an ark of acacia wood and (BQ)cut out two tablets of stone like the first two, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. 4 Then He wrote on the tablets, like the first writing, (BR)the Ten [s]Commandments (BS)which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire (BT)on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and (BU)came down from the mountain, and I (BV)put the tablets in the ark which I had made; (BW)and they are there, just as the Lord commanded me.”
6 (Now the sons of Israel set out from [t]Beeroth (BX)Bene-jaakan to Moserah. (BY)There Aaron died and there he was buried, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place. 7 (BZ)From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. 8 (CA)At that time the Lord singled out the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord (CB)to serve Him and to bless in His name, until this day. 9 (CC)Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)
10 “(CD)I, moreover, stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me that time also; the Lord was not willing to destroy you. 11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, so that they may go in and take possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
12 “(CE)And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to [u]fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and (CF)love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with (CG)all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, (CH)to the Lord your God belong heaven and the [v]highest heavens, (CI)the earth and all that is in it. 15 (CJ)Yet the Lord set His affection on your fathers, to love them, and He chose their [w]descendants after them, you over all the other peoples, as it is this day. 16 (CK)So circumcise [x]your heart, and do not (CL)stiffen your neck any longer. 17 (CM)For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the (CN)Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, (CO)who does not show partiality, nor (CP)take a bribe. 18 He executes justice for (CQ)the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. 19 (CR)So show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and (CS)cling to Him, and (CT)you shall swear by His name. 21 He is (CU)your glory and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. 22 (CV)Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, (CW)and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Rewards of Obedience
11 “You shall therefore (CX)love the Lord your God, and always (CY)keep His directive, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. 2 Know this day (CZ)that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the [y]discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm, 3 and (DA)His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; 4 and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, (DB)when He made the water of the [z]Red Sea [aa]engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord [ab]completely eliminated them; 5 and what He did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place; 6 and (DC)what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and (DD)every living thing that [ac]followed them, among all Israel— 7 but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.
8 “You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, (DE)so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; 9 and (DF)so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their [ad]descendants, (DG)a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it [ae]by your foot like a vegetable garden. 11 But (DH)the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which the Lord your God cares; (DI)the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it, from the [af]beginning even to the end of the year.
13 “And it shall come about, (DJ)if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, (DK)to love the Lord your God and to serve Him (DL)with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that [ag](DM)He will provide rain for your land in its season, the [ah](DN)early and [ai]late rain, so that you may gather your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 [aj](DO)He will also provide grass in your field for your cattle, and (DP)you will eat and be satisfied. 16 [ak](DQ)Beware that your hearts are not easily deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods, and worship them. 17 Otherwise, (DR)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will (DS)shut up the sky (DT)so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce; then (DU)you will quickly perish from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
18 “(DV)You shall therefore take these words of mine to [al]heart and to soul; and you shall tie them as a sign on your [am]hand, and they shall be as [an]frontlets [ao]on your forehead. 19 (DW)You shall also teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 20 (DX)And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that (DY)your days and the days of your sons may be increased on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as [ap](DZ)long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if you are (EA)careful to keep all of this commandment which I am commanding you to do, (EB)to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and (EC)cling to Him, 23 then the Lord will [aq](ED)dispossess all these nations from you, and you will [ar](EE)dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 (EF)Every place on which the sole of your foot steps shall be yours; (EG)your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as [as]the western sea. 25 (EH)No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will [at]instill the dread of you and the fear of you in all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.
26 “(EI)See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the (EJ)blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the (EK)curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, [au]by following other gods which you have not known.
29 “And it shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, (EL)that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite (EM)Gilgal, beside (EN)the [av]oaks of Moreh? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and (EO)you shall possess it and live in it, 32 and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am placing before you today.
Laws of the Sanctuary
12 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully [aw]follow in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess [ax](EP)as long as you live on the [ay]earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the (EQ)high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 3 And (ER)you shall tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones to pieces, and burn their [az]Asherim in the fire, and cut to pieces the carved images of their gods; and you shall (ES)eliminate their name from that place. 4 You shall not act this way toward the Lord your God. 5 (ET)But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and you shall come there. 6 You shall bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, (EU)your tithes, the [ba]contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your [bb]voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 There you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and (EV)rejoice in all [bc]your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, (EW)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you have not as yet come to (EX)the resting place and the (EY)inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and (EZ)He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, 11 (FA)then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring everything that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the [bd]contribution of your hand, and all your choice vowed offerings which you will vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall (FB)rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the (FC)Levite who is within your gates, since (FD)he has no portion or inheritance with you.
13 “(FE)Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any cultic place that you see, 14 but only in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes: there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I command you.
15 “(FF)However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, [be]whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as (FG)the gazelle and the deer. 16 (FH)Only you shall not eat the blood; (FI)you are to pour it out on the ground like water. 17 (FJ)You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, new wine, or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your vowed offerings which you vow, or your [bf]voluntary offerings, or the [bg]contribution of your hand. 18 But (FK)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in (FL)the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the (FM)Levite who is within your gates; and you shall (FN)rejoice before the Lord your God in all [bh]your undertakings. 19 (FO)Be careful that you do not abandon the Levite [bi]as long as you live in your land.
20 “When the Lord your God extends your border (FP)as He has [bj]promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because [bk]you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, [bl]whatever you desire. 21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter animals from your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates [bm]whatever you desire. 22 Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it. 23 Only be sure (FQ)not to eat the blood, for the blood is the [bn]life, and you shall not eat the [bo]life with the flesh. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. 25 You shall not eat it, so that (FR)it may go well for you and your sons after you, since (FS)you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 (FT)Only your holy things which you may have and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. 27 And (FU)you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and (FV)you shall eat the flesh.
28 “Be careful and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that (FW)it may go well for you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
29 “When (FX)the Lord your God cuts off from you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land, 30 be careful that you are not ensnared [bp]to follow them, after they are destroyed from your presence, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ 31 (FY)You shall not behave this way toward the Lord your God, because every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods; for (FZ)they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.
32 “[bq](GA)Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; (GB)you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.
Reject Idolatry
13 “[br](GC)If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘(GD)Let’s follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let’s serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is (GE)testing you to find out whether (GF)you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 (GG)You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and (GH)cling to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be (GI)put to death, because he has spoken falsely against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of [bs]slavery, (GJ)to drive you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. (GK)So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
6 “(GL)If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife [bt]you cherish, or your friend who is like your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, ‘(GM)Let’s go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you, or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 (GN)you shall not consent to him or listen to him; (GO)and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 (GP)Instead, you shall most certainly kill him; (GQ)your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 So you shall stone him [bu]to death, because he has attempted (GR)to drive you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of [bv]slavery. 11 Then (GS)all Israel will hear about it and be afraid, and will not do such a wicked thing among you again.
12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that 13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘(GT)Let’s go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), 14 then you shall investigate, search out, and inquire thoroughly. And if it is true and the matter is certain that this abomination has been committed among you, 15 (GU)you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. [bw]Utterly destroy it and all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 (GV)Then you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its public square, and burn the city and all its plunder with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a [bx](GW)ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. 17 Nothing at all from what is designated for destruction is to cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from (GX)His burning anger and (GY)show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and (GZ)make you increase, just (HA)as He has sworn to your fathers, 18 [by]if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, [bz]keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, [ca]and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
Clean and Unclean Animals
14 “You are (HB)sons of the Lord your God; (HC)you shall not cut yourselves nor [cb]shave a bald spot [cc]above your forehead for the dead. 2 For you are (HD)a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a (HE)people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
3 “(HF)You shall not eat any detestable thing. 4 (HG)These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 [cd]the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 And any animal that has a divided hoof and has its hoofs split in two, and [ce]chews the cud, among the animals, [cf]that animal you may eat. 7 However, you are not to eat these among the ones that [cg]chew the cud, or among those that have the hoof divided in [ch]two: the camel, the [ci]rabbit, and the rock hyrax, for though they [cj]chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are unclean to you. 8 And the pig, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.
9 “These you may eat of everything that is in the water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, 10 but anything that does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 “You may eat any clean bird. 12 But (HH)these are the ones that you shall not eat: the [ck]eagle and the vulture and the [cl]buzzard, 13 and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, 14 and every raven in its kind, 15 and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and the hawk in their kinds, 16 the little owl, the [cm]great owl, the white owl, 17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 18 the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And all the swarming insects with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. 20 You may eat any clean bird.
21 “(HI)You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your [cn]town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are (HJ)a holy people to the Lord your God. (HK)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
22 “You (HL)shall certainly tithe all the produce from [co]what you sow, which comes from the field every year. 23 You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, (HM)at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may (HN)learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 But if the [cp]distance is so great for you that you are not able to [cq]bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses (HO)to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, 25 then you shall [cr]exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26 And you may spend the money on whatever your [cs]heart desires: on oxen, sheep, wine, other strong drink, or whatever your [ct]heart [cu]desires; and (HP)there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 Also you shall not neglect (HQ)the Levite who is in your [cv]town, (HR)for he has no portion or inheritance among you.
28 “(HS)At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and you shall deposit it in your [cw]town. 29 And the Levite, (HT)because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and (HU)the stranger, the [cx]orphan, and the widow who are in your [cy]town, shall come and (HV)eat and be satisfied, in order that (HW)the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
The Sabbatical Year
15 “(HX)At the end of every seven years you shall [cz]grant a release of debts. 2 And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3 (HY)From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall [da]forgive whatever of yours is with your brother. 4 However, there will be no poor among you, since (HZ)the Lord will certainly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to [db]follow carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. 6 (IA)For the Lord your God will have blessed you just as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7 “If there is (IB)a poor person among you, one of your brothers, in any of your [dc]towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, (IC)you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8 but (ID)you shall fully open your hand to him, and generously lend him enough for his need in whatever he lacks. 9 Be careful that there is no mean-spirited [dd]thought in your heart, [de]such as, ‘(IE)The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and (IF)your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he (IG)may cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. 10 You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be [df]grudging when you give to him, because (IH)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all [dg]your undertakings. 11 (II)For the poor will not cease [dh]to exist in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’
12 “(IJ)If your fellow countryman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him [di]free. 13 And when you set him [dj]free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 You shall give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 And you are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding [dk]this of you today. 16 But it shall come about, (IK)if he says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you, 17 then you shall take an [dl]awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant permanently. You shall also do the same to your female slave.
18 “It shall not seem difficult for you when you set him [dm]free, because he has given you six years with double the [dn]service of a hired worker; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.
19 “(IL)You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born in your herd and in your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 (IM)You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses. 21 (IN)But if it has any impairment, such as a limp, or blindness, or any serious impairment, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your gates; (IO)the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as (IP)a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only (IQ)you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
The Feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Booths
16 “Observe (IR)the month of Abib and [do](IS)celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. 3 (IT)You shall not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry), so that you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt (IU)all the days of your life. 4 For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in your entire territory, and (IV)none of the meat which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall be left overnight until the morning. 5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your [dp]towns which the Lord your God is giving you; 6 but only (IW)at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 You shall (IX)cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and (IY)on the seventh day there shall be (IZ)a festive assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.
9 “(JA)You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall [dq]celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a [dr]voluntary offering of your hand in a proportional amount, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; 11 and you shall (JB)rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and (JC)the Levite who is in your [ds]town, and (JD)the stranger, the [dt]orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. 12 (JE)You shall also remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful and [du]comply with these statutes.
13 “(JF)You shall [dv]celebrate the Feast of [dw]Booths for seven days when you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; 14 and you shall (JG)rejoice in your feast, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite, the stranger, the [dx]orphan, and the widow who are in your [dy]towns. 15 For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
16 “(JH)Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths; and (JI)they are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Everyone [dz]shall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your [ea]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 (JJ)You shall not distort justice, (JK)you shall not [eb]show partiality; and (JL)you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that (JM)you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
21 “(JN)You shall not plant for yourself an [ec]Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 And (JO)you shall not set up for yourself a memorial stone, which the Lord your God hates.
Administration of Justice
17 “(JP)You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any [ed]defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.
2 “(JQ)If there is found in your midst, in any of your [ee]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by violating His covenant, 3 and that person has gone and (JR)served other gods and worshiped them, (JS)or the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly [ef]lights, (JT)which I have commanded not to do, 4 and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And [eg]if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you are to bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil deed, that is, the man or the woman, and (JU)you shall stone them to [eh]death. 6 (JV)On the [ei]testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the [ej]condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the [ek]testimony of only one witness. 7 (JW)The hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. (JX)So you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.
8 “(JY)If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between [el]one kind of homicide or another, between [em]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between [en]one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your [eo]courts, then you shall arise and go up to (JZ)the place which the Lord your God chooses. 9 So you shall come to (KA)the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the [ep]verdict. 10 Then you shall act in accordance with the [eq]terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to act in accordance with everything that they instruct you to do. 11 (KB)In accordance with the [er]terms of the law about which they instruct you, and in accordance with the verdict which they tell you, you shall act; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. 12 But the person who acts (KC)insolently by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that person shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act (KD)insolently again.
14 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you (KE)take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘(KF)I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One (KG)from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. 16 (KH)In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he (KI)make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since (KJ)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 And (KK)he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
18 “Now it shall come about, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law on a scroll [es](KL)in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it (KM)all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, [et]by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, 20 so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, (KN)and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may [eu]live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.
Portion for the Levites
18 “(KO)The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His [ev]property. 2 (KP)They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He [ew]promised them.
3 “(KQ)Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You shall give him the (KR)first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. 5 (KS)For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to (KT)stand to serve in the name of the Lord always.
6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your [ex]towns throughout Israel where he (KU)resides, and he comes [ey]whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, 7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 (KV)They shall eat [ez]equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.
Spiritism Forbidden
9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to [fa](KW)imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone (KX)who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a (KY)soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, (KZ)or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and (LA)because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. 13 (LB)You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to (LC)soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.
15 “(LD)The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. 16 This is (LE)in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ 17 And (LF)the Lord said to me, ‘They have [fb]spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and (LG)I will put My words in his mouth, and (LH)he shall speak to them everything that I command him. 19 (LI)And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will [fc]require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word (LJ)presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or (LK)which he speaks in the name of other gods, [fd]that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 (LL)When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it (LM)presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.
Cities of Refuge
19 “(LN)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, 2 (LO)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to [fe]possess. 3 You shall prepare the [ff]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, [fg]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.
4 “(LP)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he [fh]kills his friend [fi]unintentionally, [fj]not hating him previously— 5 as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand [fk]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the [fl]handle and [fm]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue [fn]him [fo]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and [fp]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’
8 “And if the Lord your God (LQ)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He [fq]promised to give your fathers— 9 if you [fr]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, (LR)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—(LS)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10 So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and (LT)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.
11 “But (LU)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes [fs]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13 [ft](LV)You shall not pity him, but (LW)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.
Laws of Landmark and Testimony
14 “(LX)You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to [fu]possess.
15 “(LY)A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin [fv]that he commits; on the [fw]testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 (LZ)If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both people who have the dispute shall stand (MA)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 And the judges (MB)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, 19 then (MC)you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. 20 And (MD)the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 So [fx](ME)you shall not show pity: (MF)life for life, (MG)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Laws of Warfare
20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see (MH)horses, chariots, and people more numerous than you, (MI)do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. 2 When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people. 3 He shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. (MJ)Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them, 4 for the Lord your God (MK)is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ 5 The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house but has not (ML)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. 6 And who is the man that has planted a vineyard but has not [fy]put it to use? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man [fz]would put it to use. 7 (MM)And who is the man that is [ga]betrothed to a woman and has not [gb]married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would [gc]marry her.’ 8 Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘(MN)Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that [gd]he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart!’ 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.
10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall [ge]offer it terms of peace. 11 And if it [gf]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your (MO)forced labor and serve you. 12 However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, (MP)you shall strike all the [gg]men in it with the edge of the sword. 14 However, the women, the children, (MQ)the animals, and everything that is in the city, all of its spoils, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall [gh]use the spoils of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. 15 This is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations [gi]nearby. 16 (MR)Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive. 17 Instead, you shall [gj]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they will not teach you to do [gk](MS)all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, [gl]by which you would (MT)sin against the Lord your God.
19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, so you shall not cut them down. For [gm]is the tree of the field a human, that it should [gn]be besieged by you? 20 Only the trees that you know [go]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, so that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war against you until it falls.
Expiation of a Crime
21 “If a person who has been killed by someone is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to [gp]possess, and it is not known who struck him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed. 3 And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the person killed, that is, that the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked [gq]and has not pulled in a yoke; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 Then (MU)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and [gr]violent crime shall be [gs]settled by them. 6 And all the elders of that city [gt]which is nearest to the person killed shall (MV)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7 and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did. 8 [gu]Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Lord, and do not place the guilt for (MW)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be [gv]forgiven them. 9 (MX)So you shall remove the guilt for innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Domestic Relations
10 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and (MY)the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and are strongly attracted to her and would take her as a wife for yourself, 12 then you shall bring her into your home, and she shall (MZ)shave her head and [gw]trim her nails. 13 She shall also [gx]remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and (NA)weep for her father and mother a full month; and after that you may have relations with her and become her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 But it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go [gy]wherever she wishes; and you certainly shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as merchandise, since you have [gz](NB)humiliated her.
15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and (NC)the other [ha]unloved, and both the loved and the [hb]unloved have borne him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the [hc]unloved, 16 then it shall be on the day that he wills what he owns as an inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, [hd]at the expense of the son of the [he]unloved, who actually is the firstborn son. 17 On the contrary, he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the [hf]unloved wife, by giving him a double [hg]portion of everything that [hh]he owns, for he was the (ND)beginning of his [hi]strength; (NE)to him belongs the right of the firstborn.
18 “If any person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does (NF)not obey his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he does not listen to them, 19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city [hj]at the gateway of his hometown. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us, he is thoughtless and given to drinking.’ 21 (NG)Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so (NH)you shall eliminate the evil from your midst, and (NI)all Israel will hear about it and fear.
22 “Now if [hk]a person has committed a sin carrying (NJ)a sentence of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on [hl]a tree, 23 (NK)his body is not to be left overnight on the [hm]tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for (NL)he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you (NM)do not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Various Laws
22 “(NN)You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and avoid them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman. 2 And if your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him. 3 You shall also do this with his donkey, and you shall do the same with his garment, and you shall do likewise with any lost property of your countryman, which has been lost by him and you have found. You are not allowed to avoid them. 4 You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fallen down on the road, and avoid them; you shall certainly help him raise them up.
5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.
6 “If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs in it, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, (NO)you shall not take the mother with the young; 7 you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, (NP)in order that it may go well for you and that you may prolong your days.
8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a [hn]parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring guilt for bloodshed on your house if anyone falls from it.
9 “(NQ)You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, otherwise [ho]all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard will be [hp]forfeited to the sanctuary.
10 “(NR)You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11 “(NS)You shall not wear a material of wool and linen combined together.
12 “(NT)You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.
Laws on Morality
13 “(NU)If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then [hq]turns against her, 14 and he charges her with shameful behavior and [hr]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her to have evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he [hs]turned against her; 17 and behold, he has charged her with shameful behavior, saying, “I did not find your daughter to have evidence of virginity.” But [ht]this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the garment before the elders of the city. 18 Then (NV)the elders of that city shall take the man and rebuke him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he [hu]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to [hv]divorce her all his days.
20 “But if this [hw](NW)charge is true, and they did not find the girl to have evidence of virginity, 21 then they shall bring the girl out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her [hx]to death, because she has (NX)committed a disgraceful sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house; so (NY)you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
22 “(NZ)If a man is found sleeping with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who slept with the woman, and the woman; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel.
23 “(OA)If there is a girl who is a virgin [hy]betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city and sleeps with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them [hz]to death: the girl, because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
25 “But if the man finds the girl who is betrothed in the field, and the man seizes her and [ia]rapes her, then only the man who [ib]raped her shall die. 26 And you are not to do anything to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, [ic]so is this case. 27 When he found her in the field, the betrothed girl [id]cried out, but there was no one to save her.
28 “(OB)If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and has sexual relations with her, and they are discovered, 29 then the man who had sexual relations with her shall give the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he has violated her; he is not allowed to divorce her all his days.
30 “[ie](OC)A man shall not take [if]his father’s wife in marriage, so that he does not [ig]uncover his father’s garment.
Persons Excluded from the Assembly
23 “(OD)No one who is [ih]emasculated or has his male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the Lord. 2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the assembly of the Lord. 3 (OE)No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the assembly of the Lord, 4 (OF)because they did not meet you with [ii]food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you (OG)Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [ij]Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless, the Lord your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God (OH)turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God (OI)loves you. 6 (OJ)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.
7 “You shall not loathe an [ik]Edomite, for (OK)he is your brother; you shall not loathe an Egyptian, (OL)because you were a stranger in his land. 8 The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
9 “When you go out as [il]an army against your enemies, you shall be on guard against every evil thing.
10 “(OM)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not [im]reenter the camp. 11 But when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may [in]reenter the camp.
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