Chronological

Chapter 17

¹ You shall not sacrifice an ox or a sheep that has any blemish or any defect^[a] whatsoever to the Lord, your God, for that would be an abomination to the Lord, your God. ² If any man or woman is discovered in any of the towns that the Lord, your God, has given you who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, transgressing his covenant, ³ going over and serving and worshiping other gods, whether it be the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, something that I have forbidden, ⁴ and you are told about it, and you hear of it, then you shall carefully check into it. If it is true, then an abomination has been committed in Israel; ⁵ you are to bring that man or woman who has done this evil thing to the town gates, and you shall stone that man or woman to death.

⁶ A person can be put to death upon the testimony of two or three witnesses; a person is not to be put to death upon the testimony of a single witness. ⁷ The witnesses will be the first to raise their hand against him to put him to death, then all of the people will raise their hands against him, in order to purge this evil from your midst.

Judges. ⁸ If cases come before you that are too difficult to judge, whether concerning bloodshed, or lawsuits, or assault, then take them to the place that the Lord, your God, will choose. ⁹ Go to the priests, the Levites, and the judge whose term it is, and consult with them. They will give you a verdict. ¹⁰ You must proceed according to the verdict that they will have given you at the place that the Lord will choose. Do everything that they tell you to do. ¹¹ Act according to the law that they teach you and the judgment that they render. Do not turn away from the sentence that they pronounce, either to the right or the left. ¹² The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying either the priest who stands before the Lord, your God, to minister there, or the judge, is to die. In this way you will purge the evil from Israel.^{[b] 13} All the people will hear of it and be filled with fear; they will not act presumptuously anymore.

¹⁴ A Suitable King. When you enter the land that the Lord, your God, has given you and you take possession of it and dwell there and you say, “I will set a king over me like all the other nations that surround me,” ¹⁵ you can indeed have a king whom the Lord, your God, will choose. You will make one of your brethren your king, you are not to choose a foreigner as king who is not one of your brethren. ¹⁶ He must not build up a large stable for himself, and he must not send people back to Egypt to procure a large stable, for the Lord has said that you are not to return that way again. ¹⁷ He should also not have many wives, lest his heart be turned astray. He must not accumulate large sums of silver or gold. ¹⁸ When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of the law that is entrusted to the priests, the Levites for himself on a scroll. ¹⁹ He should read it every day of his life so that he can learn to fear the Lord, his God, and to observe all the words of these laws and statutes, fulfilling them. ²⁰ In this way he will not consider himself to be better than his brethren in his heart, and he will not turn away from the commandments to the right or the left. He and his descendants will thus reign a long time in the kingdom of Israel.

Chapter 18

¹ The priests who are Levites,^[c] in fact, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They can eat from the burnt offerings made to the Lord, that is their inheritance. ² They will have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as he has promised them. ³ This is the portion due to the priest from the people who offer a sacrifice of either an ox or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowl, and the inner organs. ⁴ You will give them the firstfruits of the grain, the wine, and the oil, as well as the first sheering of the sheep ⁵ for the Lord, your God, has chosen him and his sons out of all of the tribes to minister in the Lord’s name forever. ⁶ If any Levite in all of Israel moves from his town where he had been living and he desires to go to the place that the Lord will choose, ⁷ then he may minister in the name of the Lord, his God, like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸ He will be given an equal share in their benefits in addition to the proceeds from the sale of his inheritance.

Forbidden Practices. ⁹ When you enter the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you, you are not to learn to perform the abominations that those nations do. ¹⁰ Let no one among you offer his son or his daughter as a burnt offering, or practice divination, or interpret omens, or practice witchcraft,^{[d] 11} or cast spells, or act as a medium, or act as a wizard, or seek oracles from the dead. ¹² Whoever does any of these things is an abomination to the Lord. It is because of these abominations that the Lord, your God, is driving them out before you.

¹³ You are to be blameless before the Lord, your God. ¹⁴ These nations that you are dispossessing listened to those who practice witchcraft and the diviners. It is not to be that way among you, for the Lord, your God, does not permit it.

¹⁵ Prophets. The Lord, your God, will raise up from among your countrymen a prophet who will do what I have done for you, and you will listen to him. ¹⁶ This is just as you asked the Lord, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let me not hear the voice of the Lord, my God, anymore, nor look upon this great fire, lest I die.” ¹⁷ The Lord said to me, “They have spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen who will be like you. I will place my words in his mouth, and he will tell them all that I command him. ¹⁹ I myself will call to account whoever does not heed my words that he will proclaim in my name. ²⁰ But if a prophet presumes to proclaim something in my name that I have not said to him, or he speaks in the names of other gods, that prophet is to be put to death.” ²¹ You might say to yourself, “How can we know that the Lord did not speak the message?” ²² If what the prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord is not true and it does not happen, then the message was not proclaimed by the Lord. The prophet has spoken presumptuously, you should not fear him.^[e]

Chapter 19

Cities of Refuge. ¹ When the Lord, your God, has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, when you have driven them out and you are dwelling in their cities and houses, ^2 [f]then set aside three cities in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess. ³ Build roads to them, and divide the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance into three parts so that anyone who has killed another can flee to them. ⁴ This is the regulation concerning the one who has killed another and flees there to save his life: one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, who did not previously bear him ill will, ⁵ for example, when a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he is swinging the ax to cut down a tree, and the head of the ax flies off and kills the neighbor. That man may flee to one of the cities to save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the relative who seeks blood vengeance might seek him out while he is still blind with rage, and if the distance be too great he would then be able to catch up with him and kill him even though he did not really deserve to die since he did not bear the man any previous ill will.^{[g] 7} This is why I command you to set aside three cities for yourselves.

⁸ If the Lord, your God, adds to your territory, as he promised to do to your ancestors, and he gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers, ⁹ for you have carefully observed all the commandments that I have given you today, to love the Lord, your God, and always walk in his ways, then you will set aside another three cities beside the first three. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood not be shed in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance. Thus, you will not be guilty of bloodshed. ¹¹ But if a man bears ill will toward his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and jumps out at him and grievously wounds him so that he dies, and then he flees to one of these cities, ¹² the elders of his town will send after him, bring him back, and hand him over to the relative who seeks blood vengeance so that he might be put to death. ¹³ Show him no pity. You must purge the guilt of shedding innocent blood from your midst so that things may go well with you.

¹⁴ Removing Landmarks. Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone that was set up long ago to mark your inheritance in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess.

¹⁵ Witnesses. One witness is not enough to convict someone of any crime or any offense that he might have committed. The matter is to be decided by the testimony of two or three witnesses. ¹⁶ If a false witness arises to accuse another of a crime, ¹⁷ the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges who are fulfilling their term. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation. If a witness proves to be a liar, having falsely testified against another, ¹⁹ then whatever would have been done to the other is to be done to him. You must purge this evil from your midst. ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear of this and be filled with fear and no one will ever do such an evil thing in your midst again. ²¹ Show no pity: a life for a life,^[h] an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a foot for a foot.

Chapter 20

Rules of Battle. ¹ When you go out to fight your enemies and you see horses and chariots and more troops than you have, do not be afraid of them on account of the Lord, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. ² When you are about to go into battle, have the priest approach and speak to the people. ³ He is to say to them, “Hear, O Israel, you are about to go into battle today against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid. Do not tremble or panic before them. ⁴ The Lord, your God, goes forth with you to fight against your enemies to deliver you.” ⁵ The officers will then say to the people: “If anyone has built a house and not yet dedicated it, he is to go home lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. ⁶ And if anyone has planted a vineyard and has not yet enjoyed its fruit, let him go home lest he die in battle and another eat its fruit. ⁷ And if anyone has become betrothed to a woman and has not yet married her, let him go home lest he die in battle and another marry her.”^{[i] 8} Even then the officers will say to the people, “If anyone is fearful or fainthearted, let him go home lest his brethren become fainthearted as well.”

⁹ When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they are to appoint commanders to lead the people. ¹⁰ When you approach a city to do battle with it, offer it terms of peace. ¹¹ If they accept your terms of peace and open their gates to you, then all the people who live there shall be subject to forced labor done on your behalf. ¹² If they refuse your terms of peace, then you will do battle with them, besieging that city. ¹³ When the Lord, your God, delivers it into your hands, you shall put every man in it to death. ¹⁴ The women, the children, the cattle, and everything else in the city will be plunder to you. You may take as your own the spoil of your enemies that the Lord, your God, has delivered over to you.

¹⁵ This is how you are to deal with all the distant cities, the cities that do not belong to these nations. ¹⁶ But in these cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, you are not to leave anything alive. ¹⁷ Wipe them out, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as the Lord, your God, has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise they will teach you to perform the abominations that they practice when they worship their gods, and you would be sinning against the Lord, your God.

¹⁹ Preserving Trees. When you besiege a city and it lasts a long time, and you do battle with it and capture it, do not cut down its trees with an ax, for you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down! Are trees in the field like people that you would lay siege to them? ²⁰ However, you can cut down those trees that are not fruit trees to use on the siege-works until the city you are fighting falls.