Chronological
Chapter 24
Marriage Legislation.[a] 1 (A)When a man, after marrying a woman, is later displeased with her because he finds in her something indecent, and he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house, 2 if on leaving his house she goes and becomes the wife of another man, 3 and the second husband, too, comes to dislike her and he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house, or if this second man who has married her dies, 4 then her former husband, who dismissed her, may not again take her as his wife after she has become defiled. That would be an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring such guilt upon the land the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage.(B)
5 (C)When a man is newly wed, he shall not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.
Pledges and Kidnappings. 6 [b]No one shall take a hand mill or even its upper stone as a pledge for debt, for that would be taking as a pledge the debtor’s life.
7 If anyone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite, enslaving or selling the victim, that kidnapper shall be put to death.(D) Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
Skin Diseases. 8 (E)In an attack of scaly infection[c] you shall be careful to observe exactly and to carry out all the instructions the levitical priests give you, as I have commanded them: observe them carefully. 9 (F)Remember what the Lord, your God, did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.
Loans and Wages. 10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, you shall not enter the neighbor’s house to receive the pledge, 11 but shall wait outside until the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge outside to you. 12 If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the pledged garment, 13 but shall definitely return it at sunset, so that your neighbor may sleep in the garment(G) and bless you. That will be your justice before the Lord, your God.
14 (H)You shall not exploit a poor and needy hired servant, whether one of your own kindred or one of the resident aliens who live in your land, within your gates.(I) 15 On each day you shall pay the servant’s wages before the sun goes down, since the servant is poor and is counting on them. Otherwise the servant will cry to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.(J)
Individual Responsibility. 16 Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for one’s own crime shall a person be put to death.(K)
Rights of the Unprotected. 17 (L)You shall not deprive the resident alien or the orphan of justice, nor take the clothing of a widow as pledge. 18 For, remember, you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord, your God, redeemed you from there; that is why I command you to do this.
19 (M)When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; let it be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings. 20 When you knock down the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not go over the branches a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow. 21 When you pick your grapes, you shall not go over the vineyard a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow. 22 For remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; that is why I command you to do this.
Chapter 25
Limits on Punishments. 1 When there is a dispute and the parties draw near for judgment, and a decision is given, declaring one party in the right and the other in the wrong, 2 if the one in the wrong deserves whipping, the judge shall have him lie down and in the presence of the judge receive the number of lashes the crime warrants. 3 Forty lashes[d] may be given, but no more;(N) or else, if more lashes are added to these many blows, your brother will be degraded in your sight.
Treatment of Oxen.[e] 4 You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out grain.(O)
Levirate Marriage. 5 (P)When brothers live together[f] and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband’s brother shall come to her, marrying her and performing the duty of a brother-in-law.(Q) 6 The firstborn son she bears shall continue the name of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. 7 But if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel and does not intend to perform his duty toward me.” 8 Thereupon the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9 [g]his sister-in-law, in the presence of the elders, shall go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his face, declaring, “This is how one should be treated who will not build up his brother’s family!” 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, “the house of the man stripped of his sandal.”
Various Precepts. 11 When two men are fighting and the wife of one intervenes to save her husband from the blows of his opponent, if she stretches out her hand and seizes the latter by his genitals, 12 you shall chop off her hand; show no pity.
13 (R)You shall not keep two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and the other light; 14 nor shall you keep two different ephahs[h] in your house, one large and the other small. 15 But use a full and just weight, a full and just ephah, so that you may have a long life on the land the Lord, your God, is giving you. 16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who does what is dishonest, is an abomination to the Lord, your God.(S)
17 [i](T)Bear in mind what Amalek did to you on the journey after you left Egypt, 18 how he surprised you along the way, weak and weary as you were, and struck down at the rear all those who lagged behind; he did not fear God. 19 Therefore, when the Lord, your God, gives you rest from all your enemies round about in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess as a heritage, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget!
Chapter 26
Thanksgiving for the Harvest. 1 (U)When you have come into the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage, and have taken possession and settled in it, 2 you shall take some first fruits(V) of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land the Lord, your God, is giving you; put them in a basket and go to the place which the Lord, your God, will choose as the dwelling place for his name. 3 There you shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “Today I acknowledge to the Lord, my God, that I have indeed come into the land which the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.”(W) 4 The priest shall then take the basket from your hands and set it in front of the altar of the Lord, your God. 5 Then you shall declare in the presence of the Lord, your God, “My father was a refugee Aramean[j] who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as a resident alien.(X) But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous. 6 (Y)When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing harsh servitude upon us, 7 we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression. 8 Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders,(Z) 9 and brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.(AA) 10 Now, therefore, I have brought the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, Lord, have given me.” You shall set them before the Lord, your God, and you shall bow down before the Lord, your God. 11 Then you and your household, together with the Levite and the resident aliens who live among you, shall celebrate with all these good things which the Lord, your God, has given you.(AB)
Declaration Concerning Tithes. 12 When you have finished setting aside all the tithes of your produce in the third year,(AC) the year of the tithes, and have given them to the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat and be satisfied in your own communities, 13 you shall declare before the Lord, your God, “I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor forgotten any. 14 [k]I have not eaten any of the tithe while in mourning; I have not brought any of it while unclean; I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have thus obeyed the voice of the Lord, my God, and done just as you have commanded me.(AD) 15 Look down, then, from heaven, your holy abode, and bless your people Israel and the fields you have given us, as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”(AE)
The Covenant. 16 (AF)This day the Lord, your God, is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances. Be careful, then, to observe them with your whole heart and with your whole being. 17 Today you have accepted the Lord’s agreement: he will be your God, and you will walk in his ways, observe his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey his voice. 18 And today the Lord has accepted your agreement: you will be a people specially his own, as he promised you, you will keep all his commandments, 19 and he will set you high in praise and renown and glory above all nations he has made, and you will be a people holy to the Lord, your God, as he promised.
Chapter 27
The Altar on Mount Ebal. 1 Then Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: Keep this whole commandment which I give you today. 2 On the day you cross the Jordan into the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3 Write on them,(AG) at the time you cross, all the words of this law, so that you may enter the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 When you cross the Jordan, on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones concerning which I command you today, and coat them with plaster, 5 (AH)and you shall build there an altar to the Lord, your God, an altar made of stones that no iron tool has touched. 6 You shall build this altar of the Lord, your God, with unhewn stones, and shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord, your God. 7 You shall also offer communion sacrifices[l] and eat them there, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord, your God. 8 On the stones you shall inscribe all the words of this law very clearly.
9 Moses, with the levitical priests, then said to all Israel: Be silent, Israel, and listen! This day you have become the people of the Lord, your God.(AI) 10 You shall obey the voice of the Lord, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes which I am giving you today.
Preparation for Blessings and Curses. 11 That same day Moses commanded the people, saying: 12 (AJ)When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
The Twelve Curses. 14 The Levites shall proclaim in a loud voice to all the Israelites: 15 [m]“Cursed be anyone who makes a carved or molten idol,(AK) an abomination to the Lord, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and sets it up in secret!” And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
16 “Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother!”(AL) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
17 “Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary markers!”(AM) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
18 “Cursed be anyone who misleads the blind on their way!”(AN) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
19 “Cursed be anyone who deprives the resident alien, the orphan or the widow of justice!”(AO) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
20 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed!”(AP) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
21 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with any animal!”(AQ) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
22 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with his sister, whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter!”(AR) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
23 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with his mother-in-law!”(AS) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
24 “Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret!”(AT) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
25 “Cursed be anyone who accepts payment to kill an innocent person!”(AU) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
26 “Cursed be anyone whose actions do not uphold the words of this law!”(AV) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.