^8:1Take care to keep all the orders which I give you today, so that you may have life and be increased and go in and take as a heritage the land which the Lord, by his oath to your fathers, undertook to give you. ^8:2And keep in mind the way by which the Lord your God has taken you through the waste land these forty years, so that he might make low your pride and put you to the test, to see what was in your heart and if you would keep his orders or not. ^8:3And he made low your pride and let you be without food and gave you manna for your food, a thing new to you, which your fathers never saw; so that he might make it clear to you that bread is not man's only need, but his life is in every word which comes out of the mouth of the Lord. ^8:4Through all these forty years your clothing did not get old or your feet become tired. ^8:5Keep in mind this thought, that as a son is trained by his father, so you have been trained by the Lord your God. ^8:6Then keep the orders of the Lord your God, fearing him and walking in his ways. ^8:7For the Lord your God is guiding you into a good land, a land of water-springs, of fountains, and deep streams flowing out from the valleys and the hills; ^8:8A land of grain and vines and fig-trees and fair fruits; a land of oil-giving olive-trees and honey; ^8:9Where there will be bread for you in full measure and you will be in need of nothing; a land where the very stones are iron and from whose hills you may get copper. ^8:10And you will have food enough and be full, praising the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ^8:11Then take care that you are not turned away from the Lord your God and from keeping his orders and decisions and laws which I give you this day: ^8:12And when you have taken food and are full, and have made fair houses for yourselves and are living in them; ^8:13And when your herds and your flocks are increased, and your stores of silver and gold, and you have wealth of every sort; ^8:14Take care that your hearts are not lifted up in pride, giving no thought to the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house; ^8:15Who was your guide through that great and cruel waste, where there were poison-snakes and scorpions and a dry land without water; who made water come out of the hard rock for you; ^8:16Who gave you manna for your food in the waste land, a food which your fathers had never seen; so that your pride might be broken and your hearts tested for your good in the end; ^8:17Say not then, in your hearts, My power and the strength of my hands have got me this wealth. ^8:18But keep in mind the Lord your God: for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth, so that he may give effect to the agreement which he made by his oath with your fathers, as at this day. ^8:19And it is certain that if at any time you are turned away from the Lord your God, and go after other gods, to be their servants and to give them worship, destruction will overtake you. ^8:20Like the nations which the Lord is cutting off before you, so you will be cut off; because you would not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God.

^9:1Give ear, O Israel: today you are to go over Jordan, to take the heritage of nations greater and stronger than yourselves, and towns of great size with walls as high as heaven; ^9:2A people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, of whom you have knowledge and of whom it has been said, All are forced to give way before the sons of Anak. ^9:3Be certain then today that it is the Lord your God who goes over before you like an all-burning fire; he will send destruction on them, crushing them before you; and you will send them in flight, putting an end to them quickly, as the Lord has said. ^9:4And after the Lord has sent them in flight from before you, say not in your heart, Because of my righteousness the Lord has given me this land; when it is because of their evil-doing that the Lord is driving these nations out before you. ^9:5Not for your righteousness or because your hearts are upright are you going in to take their land; but because of the evil-doing of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and to give effect to his oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^9:6Be certain then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land as a reward for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. ^9:7Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord. ^9:8Again in Horeb you made the Lord angry, and in his wrath he would have put an end to you. ^9:9When I had gone up into the mountain to be given the stones on which was recorded the agreement which the Lord made with you, I was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights without taking food or drinking water. ^9:10And the Lord gave me the two stones with writing on them done by the finger of God: on them were recorded all the words which the Lord said to you on the mountain out of the heart of the fire, on the day of the great meeting. ^9:11Then at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me those stones, the stones of the agreement. ^9:12And the Lord said to me, Get up now, and go down quickly from this place; for the people you have taken out of Egypt have given themselves over to evil; they have quickly been turned from the way in which I gave them orders to go; they have made themselves a metal image. ^9:13And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked: ^9:14Let me send destruction on them till their very name is cut off; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they. ^9:15So turning round I came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two stones of the agreement were in my hands. ^9:16And I saw that you had done evil against the Lord, and had made for yourselves a metal image of a young ox: you had quickly been turned from the way in which the Lord had given you orders to go. ^9:17And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken before your eyes. ^9:18And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath. ^9:19For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer. ^9:20And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time. ^9:21And I took your sin, the image which you had made, and put it in the fire and had it hammered and crushed very small till it was only dust: and the dust I put in the stream flowing down from the mountain. ^9:22Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you made the Lord angry. ^9:23And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice. ^9:24From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord. ^9:25So I went down on my face in prayer before the Lord for forty days and forty nights as I did at first; because the Lord had said that he would put an end to you. ^9:26And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand. ^9:27Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin: ^9:28Or it may be said in the land from which you have taken them, Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land which he said he would give them, and because of his hate for them, he has taken them out to put them to death in the waste land. ^9:29But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.

^10:1At that time the Lord said to me, Make two other stones, cut like the first two, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood. ^10:2And I will put on the stones the words which were on the first stones which were broken by you, and you are to put them into the ark. ^10:3So I made an ark of hard wood, and had two stones cut like the others, and went up the mountain with the stones in my hands. ^10:4And he put on the stones, as in the first writing, the ten rules which the Lord gave you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the great meeting: and the Lord gave the stones to me. ^10:5And turning round I came down from the mountain and put the stones in the ark which I had made; and there they are as the Lord gave me orders. ^10:6(And the children of Israel went on from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah: there death came to Aaron and he was put to rest in the earth; and Eleazar, his son, took his place as priest. ^10:7From there they went on to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. ^10:8At that time the Lord had the tribe of Levi marked out to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement, to be before the Lord and to do his work and to give blessings in his name, to this day. ^10:9For this reason Levi has no part or heritage for himself among his brothers: the Lord is his heritage, as the Lord your God said to him.) ^10:10And I was in the mountain, as at the first time, for forty days and forty nights; and again the ears of the Lord were open to my prayer, and he did not send destruction on you. ^10:11Then the Lord said to me, Get up and go on your journey before the people, so that they may go in and take the land which I said in my oath to their fathers that I would give them. ^10:12And now, Israel, what would the Lord your God have you do, but to go in the fear of the Lord your God, walking in all his ways and loving him and doing his pleasure with all your heart and all your soul, ^10:13Doing the orders of the Lord and keeping his laws which I give you this day for your good? ^10:14The Lord your God is ruler of heaven, of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth with everything in it. ^10:15But the Lord had delight in your fathers and love for them, marking out for himself their seed after them, even you, from all peoples, as at this day. ^10:16Let your circumcision be of the heart, and put away your pride. ^10:17For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, strong in power and greatly to be feared, who has no respect for any man's position and takes no rewards: ^10:18Judging uprightly in the cause of the widow and of the child who has no father, and giving food and clothing in his mercy to the man from a strange country. ^10:19So be kind to the man from a strange country who is living among you, for you yourselves were living in a strange country in the land of Egypt. ^10:20Let the fear of the Lord your God be before you, give him worship and be true to him at all times, taking your oaths in his name. ^10:21He is your God, the God of your praise, your God who has done for you all these works of power which your eyes have seen. ^10:22Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you like the stars of heaven in number.

^11:1So have love for the Lord your God, and give him worship, and keep his laws and his decisions and his orders at all times. ^11:2And be certain in your minds this day; for these words are not said to your children, who have had no experience of the training of the Lord your God, and who have not seen his great power or his strong hand and his stretched-out arm, ^11:3Or his signs and wonders which he did in Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his land; ^11:4And what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their war-carriages; how he made the waters of the Red Sea come up over them when they went after you, and how the Lord put an end to them even to this day; ^11:5And what he did for you in the waste land, till you came to this place; ^11:6And what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; when they went down into the open mouth of the earth, with their families and their tents and every living thing which was theirs, before the eyes of all Israel: ^11:7But your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord which he has done. ^11:8So keep all the orders which I give you today, so that you may be strong, and go in and take the land which is to be your heritage; ^11:9And that your days may be long in the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers and to their seed after them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^11:10For the land where you are going is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you put in your seeds, watering them with your foot, like a planted garden: ^11:11But the land where you are going is a land of hills and valleys, drinking in the rain of heaven: ^11:12A land cared for by the Lord your God: the eyes of the Lord your God are on it at all times from one end of the year to the other. ^11:13And it will be that if you truly give ear to the orders which I put before you this day, loving the Lord your God and worshipping him with all your heart and all your soul, ^11:14Then I will send rain on your land at the right time, the early rains and the late rains, so that you may get in your grain and your wine and your oil. ^11:15And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, so that you may have food in full measure. ^11:16But take care that your hearts are not turned to false ways so that you become servants and worshippers of other gods; ^11:17For if you do so, the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, and the heaven will be shut up so that there is no rain and the land will give no fruit; and in a very little time you will be cut off from the good land which the Lord is giving you. ^11:18So keep these words deep in your heart and in your soul, and have them fixed on your hand for a sign and marked on your brow; ^11:19Teaching them to your children, and talking of them when you are at rest in your house or walking by the way, when you go to sleep and when you get up: ^11:20Writing them on the pillars of your houses and over the doors of your towns: ^11:21So that your days, and the days of your children, may be long in the land which the Lord by his oath to your fathers said he would give them, like the days of the eternal heavens. ^11:22For if you take care to keep all the orders which I give you, and to do them; loving the Lord your God and walking in all his ways and being true to him: ^11:23Then the Lord will send these nations in flight before you, and you will take the lands of nations greater and stronger than yourselves. ^11:24Every place where you put your foot will be yours: from the waste land and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates as far as the Great Sea, will be the limits of your land. ^11:25All people will give way before you: for the Lord your God will put the fear of you on all the land through which you go, as he has said. ^11:26Today I put before you a blessing and a curse: ^11:27The blessing if you give ear to the orders of the Lord your God, which I give you this day: ^11:28And the curse if you do not give ear to the orders of the Lord your God, but let yourselves be turned from the way which I have put before you this day, and go after other gods which are not yours. ^11:29And when the Lord your God has taken you into the land of your heritage, you are to put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ^11:30Are they not on the other side of Jordan, looking west, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, by the holy tree of Moreh? ^11:31For you are about to go over Jordan to take the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you, and it will be your resting-place. ^11:32And you are to take care to keep all the laws and the decisions which I put before you today.

^12:1These are the laws and the decisions which you are to keep with care in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to be your heritage all the days of your life on earth. ^12:2You are to give up to the curse all those places where the nations, whom you are driving out, gave worship to their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green tree: ^12:3Their altars and their pillars are to be broken down, and their holy trees burned with fire, and the images of their gods cut down; you are to take away their names out of that place. ^12:4Do not so to the Lord your God. ^12:5But let your hearts be turned to the place which will be marked out by the Lord your God, among your tribes, to put his name there; ^12:6And there you are to take your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up to the Lord, and the offerings of your oaths, and those which you give freely from the impulse of your hearts, and the first births among your herds and your flocks; ^12:7There you and all your families are to make a feast before the Lord your God, with joy in everything to which you put your hand, because the Lord has given you his blessing. ^12:8You are not to do things then in the way in which we now do them here, every man as it seems right to him: ^12:9For you have not come to the rest and the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you. ^12:10But when you have gone over Jordan and are living in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as your heritage, and when he has given you rest from all those on every side who are fighting against you, and you are living there safely; ^12:11Then there will be a place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name, and there you will take all the things which I give you orders to take: your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up, and the offerings of your oaths which you make to the Lord; ^12:12And you will be glad before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your men-servants and your women-servants, and the Levite who is with you in your house, because he has no part or heritage among you. ^12:13Take care that you do not make your burned offerings in any place you see: ^12:14But in the place marked out by the Lord in one of your tribes, there let your burned offerings be offered, and there do what I have given you orders to do. ^12:15Only you may put to death animals, such as the gazelle or the roe, for your food in any of your towns, at the desire of your soul, in keeping with the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may take of it. ^12:16But you may not take the blood for food, it is to be drained out on the earth like water. ^12:17In your towns you are not to take as food the tenth part of your grain, or of your wine or your oil, or the first births of your herds or of your flocks, or anything offered under an oath, or freely offered to the Lord, or given as a lifted offering; ^12:18But they will be your food before the Lord your God in the place of his selection, where you may make a feast of them, with your son and your daughter, and your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is living with you: and you will have joy before the Lord your God in everything to which you put your hand. ^12:19See that you do not give up caring for the Levite as long as you are living in your land. ^12:20When the Lord your God makes wide the limit of your land, as he has said, and you say, I will take flesh for my food, because you have a desire for it; then you may take whatever flesh you have a desire for. ^12:21If the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name is far away from you, then take from your herds and from your flocks which the Lord has given you, as I have said, and have a meal of it in the towns where you may be living. ^12:22It will be your food, like the gazelle and the roe; the unclean and the clean may take of it. ^12:23But see that you do not take the blood for food; for the blood is the life; and you may not make use of the life as food with the flesh. ^12:24Do not take it for food but let it be drained out on the earth like water. ^12:25Do not take it for food; so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, while you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. ^12:26But the holy things which you have, and the offerings of your oaths, you are to take to the place which will be marked out by the Lord: ^12:27Offering the flesh and the blood of your burned offerings on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your offerings is to be drained out on the altar of the Lord your God, and the flesh will be your food. ^12:28Take note of all these orders I am giving you and give attention to them, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you for ever, while you do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God. ^12:29When the people of the land where you are going have been cut off before you by the Lord your God, and you have taken their land and are living in it; ^12:30After their destruction take care that you do not go in their ways, and that you do not give thought to their gods, saying, How did these nations give worship to their gods? I will do as they did. ^12:31Do not so to the Lord your God: for everything which is disgusting to the Lord and hated by him they have done in honour of their gods: even burning their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. ^12:32You are to keep with care all the words I give you, making no addition to them and taking nothing from them.

^13:1If ever you have among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ^13:2And the sign or the wonder takes place, and he says to you, Let us go after other gods, which are strange to you, and give them worship; ^13:3Then give no attention to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God is testing you, to see if all the love of your heart and soul is given to him. ^13:4But keep on in the ways of the Lord your God, fearing him and keeping his orders and hearing his voice, worshipping him and being true to him. ^13:5And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is to be put to death; for his words were said with the purpose of turning you away from the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; and of forcing you out of the way in which the Lord your God has given you orders to go. So you are to put away the evil from among you. ^13:6If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers; ^13:7Gods of the peoples round about you, near or far, from one end of the earth to the other; ^13:8Do not be guided by him or give attention to him; have no pity on him or mercy, and give him no cover; ^13:9But put him to death without question; let your hand be the first stretched out against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people. ^13:10Let him be stoned with stones till he is dead; because it was his purpose to make you false to the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house. ^13:11And all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and no one will again do such evil as this among you. ^13:12And if word comes to you, in one of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you for your resting-place, ^13:13That good-for-nothing persons have gone out from among you, turning the people of their town from the right way and saying, Let us go and give worship to other gods, of whom you have no knowledge; ^13:14Then let a full search be made, and let questions be put with care; and if it is true and certain that such a disgusting thing has been done among you; ^13:15Then take up arms against the people of that town and give it up to the curse, with all its cattle and everything in it. ^13:16And take all the goods into the middle of its open space, burning the town and all its property with fire as an offering to the Lord your God; it is to be a waste for ever; there is to be no more building there. ^13:17Keep not a thing of what is cursed for yourselves: so the Lord may be turned away from the heat of his wrath, and have mercy on you, and give you increase as he said in his oath to your fathers: ^13:18So long as you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep all his orders which I give you today, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

^14:1You are the children of the Lord your God: you are not to make cuts on your bodies or take off the hair on your brows in honour of the dead; ^14:2For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has taken you to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth. ^14:3No disgusting thing may be your food. ^14:4These are the beasts which you may have for food: the ox, the sheep, and the goat; ^14:5The hart, the gazelle, and the roe, the mountain goat and the pygarg and the antelope and the mountain sheep. ^14:6Any beast which has a division in the horn of its foot and whose food comes back into its mouth to be crushed again, may be used for food. ^14:7But even among these, there are some which may not be used for food: such as the camel, the hare, and the coney, which are unclean to you, because, though their food comes back, the horn of their feet is not parted in two. ^14:8And the pig is unclean to you, because though it has a division in the horn of its foot, its food does not come back; their flesh may not be used for food or their dead bodies touched by you. ^14:9And of the things living in the waters, you may take all those who have wings for swimming with and skins formed of thin plates. ^14:10But any which have no skin-plates or wings for swimming, you may not take; they are unclean for you. ^14:11All clean birds may be used for food. ^14:12But these birds you may not take: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray; ^14:13The falcon and the kite, and birds of that sort; ^14:14Every raven, and all birds of that sort; ^14:15And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk and birds of that sort; ^14:16The little owl and the great owl and the water-hen; ^14:17And the pelican and the vulture and the cormorant; ^14:18The stork and the heron and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat. ^14:19Every winged thing which goes flat on the earth is unclean to you and may not be used as food. ^14:20But all clean birds you may take. ^14:21You may not have as food anything which has come to a natural death; the man from another country who is living with you may take it for food, or you may get a price for it from one of another nation; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk. ^14:22Put on one side a tenth of all the increase of your seed, produced year by year. ^14:23And make a feast before the Lord your God, in the place which is to be marked out, where his name will be for ever, of the tenth part of your grain and your wine and your oil, and the first births of your herds and your flocks; so that you may have the fear of the Lord your God in your hearts at all times. ^14:24And if the way is so long that you are not able to take these things to the place marked out by the Lord your God for his name, when he has given you his blessing, because it is far away from you; ^14:25Then let these things be exchanged for money, and, taking the money in your hand, go to the place marked out by the Lord your God for himself; ^14:26And with the money get whatever you have a desire for, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your soul's desire may be: and make a feast there before the Lord your God, and be glad, you and all your house; ^14:27And give a thought to the Levite who is living among you, for he has no part or heritage in the land. ^14:28At the end of every three years take a tenth part of all your increase for that year, and put it in store inside your walls: ^14:29And the Levite, because he has no part or heritage in the land, and the man from a strange country, and the child who has no father, and the widow, who are living among you, will come and take food and have enough; and so the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.

^15:1At the end of every seven years there is to be a general forgiveness of debt. ^15:2This is how it is to be done: every creditor is to give up his right to whatever he has let his neighbour have; he is not to make his neighbour, his countryman, give it back; because a general forgiveness has been ordered by the Lord. ^15:3A man of another nation may be forced to make payment of his debt, but if your brother has anything of yours, let it go; ^15:4But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will certainly give you his blessing in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage; ^15:5If only you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to keep all these orders which I give you today. ^15:6For the Lord your God will give you his blessing as he has said: you will let other nations have the use of your money, but you will not make use of theirs; you will be rulers over a number of nations, but they will not be your rulers. ^15:7If in any of your towns in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, there is a poor man, one of your countrymen, do not let your heart be hard or your hand shut to him; ^15:8But let your hand be open to give him the use of whatever he is in need of. ^15:9And see that there is no evil thought in your heart, moving you to say to yourself, The seventh year, the year of forgiveness is near; and so looking coldly on your poor countryman you give him nothing; and he will make an outcry to the Lord against you, and it will be judged as sin in you. ^15:10But it is right for you to give to him, without grief of heart: for because of this, the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all your work and on everything to which you put your hand. ^15:11For there will never be a time when there are no poor in the land; and so I give orders to you, Let your hand be open to your countrymen, to those who are poor and in need in your land. ^15:12If one of your countrymen, a Hebrew man or woman, becomes your servant for a price and does work for you six years, in the seventh year let him go free. ^15:13And when you make him free, do not let him go away with nothing in his hands: ^15:14But give him freely from your flock and from your grain and your wine: in the measure of the wealth which the Lord your God has given you, you are to give to him. ^15:15And keep in mind that you yourself were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: so I give you this order today. ^15:16But if he says to you, I have no desire to go away from you; because you and your family are dear to him and he is happy with you; ^15:17Then take a sharp-pointed instrument, driving it through his ear into the door, and he will be your servant for ever. And you may do the same for your servant-girl. ^15:18Let it not seem hard to you that you have to send him away free; for he has been working for you for six years, which is twice the regular time for a servant: and the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do. ^15:19All the first males to come to birth in your herd and your flock are to be holy to the Lord your God: the first birth of your ox is not to be used for work, the wool of your first lamb is not to be cut. ^15:20But year by year you and all your house are to take a meal of it before the Lord, in the place of his selection. ^15:21But if it has any mark on it, if it is blind or has damaged legs, or if there is anything wrong with it, it may not be offered to the Lord your God. ^15:22It may be used for food in your houses: the unclean and the clean may take of it, as of the gazelle and the roe. ^15:23Only do not take its blood for food, but let it be drained out on the earth like water.

^16:1Take note of the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God: for in the month of Abib the Lord your God took you out of Egypt by night. ^16:2The Passover offering, from your flock or your herd, is to be given to the Lord your God in the place marked out by him as the resting-place of his name. ^16:3Take no leavened bread with it; for seven days let your food be unleavened bread, that is, the bread of sorrow; for you came out of the land of Egypt quickly: so the memory of that day, when you came out of the land of Egypt, will be with you all your life. ^16:4For seven days let no leaven be used through all your land; and nothing of the flesh which is put to death in the evening of the first day is to be kept through the night till morning. ^16:5The Passover offering is not to be put to death in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you: ^16:6But in the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place of his name, there you are to put the Passover to death in the evening, at sundown, at that time of the year when you came out of Egypt. ^16:7It is to be cooked and taken as food in the place marked out by the Lord: and in the morning you are to go back to your tents. ^16:8For six days let your food be unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there is to be a holy meeting to the Lord your God; no work is to be done. ^16:9Let seven weeks be numbered from the first day when the grain is cut. ^16:10Then keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, with an offering freely given to him from the wealth he has given you: ^16:11Then you are to be glad before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is with you, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you, in the place marked out by the Lord your God as a resting-place for his name. ^16:12And you will keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: and you will take care to keep all these laws. ^16:13You are to keep the feast of tents for seven days after you have got in all your grain and made your wine: ^16:14You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you. ^16:15Keep the feast to the Lord your God for seven days, in the place marked out by the Lord: because the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all the produce of your land and all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy. ^16:16Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord your God in the place named by him; at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents: and they are not to come before the Lord with nothing in their hands; ^16:17Every man is to give as he is able, in the measure of the blessing which the Lord your God has given you. ^16:18You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness. ^16:19You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false. ^16:20Let righteousness be your guide, so that you may have life, and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ^16:21Let no holy tree of any sort be planted by the altar of the Lord your God which you will make. ^16:22You are not to put up stone pillars, for they are hated by the Lord your God.

^17:1No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God. ^17:2If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement, ^17:3By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders; ^17:4If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel; ^17:5Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead. ^17:6On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness. ^17:7The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you. ^17:8If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God; ^17:9And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision: ^17:10And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say: ^17:11Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you. ^17:12And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel. ^17:13And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride. ^17:14When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you; ^17:15Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves. ^17:16And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way. ^17:17And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold. ^17:18And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care: ^17:19And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws: ^17:20So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.

^18:1The priests, the Levites, that is, all the tribe of Levi, will have no part or heritage with Israel: their food and their heritage will be the offerings of the Lord made by fire. ^18:2And they will have no heritage among their countrymen: the Lord is their heritage, as he has said to them. ^18:3And this is to be the priests' right: those who make an offering of a sheep or an ox are to give to the priest the top part of the leg and the two sides of the head and the stomach. ^18:4And in addition you are to give him the first of your grain and wine and oil, and the first wool cut from your sheep. ^18:5For he, and his sons after him for ever, have been marked out by the Lord your God from all your tribes, to do the work of priests in the name of the Lord. ^18:6And if a Levite, moved by a strong desire, comes from any town in all Israel where he is living to the place marked out by the Lord; ^18:7Then he will do the work of a priest in the name of the Lord his God, with all his brothers the Levites who are there before the Lord. ^18:8His food will be the same as theirs, in addition to what has come to him as the price of his property. ^18:9When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, do not take as your example the disgusting ways of those nations. ^18:10Let there not be seen among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or anyone using secret arts, or a maker of strange sounds, or a reader of signs, or any wonder-worker, ^18:11Or anyone using secret force on people, or putting questions to a spirit, or having secret knowledge, or going to the dead for directions. ^18:12For all who do such things are disgusting to the Lord; and because of these disgusting things the Lord your God is driving them out before you. ^18:13You are to be upright in heart before the Lord your God. ^18:14For these nations, whose land you are taking, give attention to readers of signs and to those using secret arts: but the Lord your God will not let you do so. ^18:15The Lord your God will give you a prophet from among your people, like me; you will give ear to him; ^18:16In answer to the request you made to the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the great meeting, when you said, Let not the voice of the Lord my God come to my ears again, and let me not see this great fire any more, or death will overtake me. ^18:17Then the Lord said to me, What they have said is well said. ^18:18I will give them a prophet from among themselves, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will say to them whatever I give him orders to say. ^18:19And whoever does not give ear to my words which he will say in my name, will be responsible to me. ^18:20But the prophet who takes it on himself to say words in my name which I have not given him orders to say, or who says anything in the name of other gods, will come to his death. ^18:21And if you say in your hearts, How are we to be certain that the word does not come from the Lord? ^18:22When a prophet makes a statement in the name of the Lord, if what he says does not take place and his words do not come true, then his word is not the word of the Lord: the words of the prophet were said in the pride of his heart, and you are to have no fear of him.

^19:1When the nations, whose land the Lord your God is giving you, have been cut off by him, and you have taken their place and are living in their towns and in their houses; ^19:2You are to have three towns marked out in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage. ^19:3You are to make ready a way, and see that the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, is marked out into three parts, to which any taker of life may go in flight. ^19:4This is to be the rule for anyone who goes in flight there, after causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate; ^19:5For example, if a man goes into the woods with his neighbour for the purpose of cutting down trees, and when he takes his axe to give a blow to the tree, the head of the axe comes off, and falling on to his neighbour gives him a wound causing his death; then the man may go in flight to one of these towns and be safe: ^19:6For if not, he who has the right of punishment may go running after the taker of life in the heat of his wrath, and overtake him because the way is long, and give him a death-blow; though it is not right for him to be put to death because he was not moved by hate. ^19:7And so I am ordering you to see that three towns are marked out for this purpose. ^19:8And if the Lord your God makes wide the limits of your land, as he said in his oath to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he undertook to give to your fathers; ^19:9If you keep and do all these orders which I give you today, loving the Lord your God and walking ever in his ways; then let three more towns, in addition to these three, be marked out for you: ^19:10So that in all your land, which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, no man may be wrongly put to death, for which you will be responsible. ^19:11But if any man has hate for his neighbour, and waiting for him secretly makes an attack on him and gives him a blow causing his death, and then goes in flight to one of these towns; ^19:12The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death. ^19:13Have no pity on him, so that Israel may be clear from the crime of putting a man to death without cause, and it will be well for you. ^19:14Your neighbour's landmark, which was put in its place by the men of old times, is not to be moved or taken away in the land of your heritage which the Lord your God is giving you. ^19:15One witness may not make a statement against a man in relation to any sin or wrongdoing which he has done: on the word of two or three witnesses a question is to be judged. ^19:16If a false witness makes a statement against a man, saying that he has done wrong, ^19:17Then the two men, between whom the argument has taken place, are to come before the Lord, before the priests and judges who are then in power; ^19:18And the judges will have the question looked into with care: and if the witness is seen to be false and to have made a false statement against his brother, ^19:19Then do to him what it was his purpose to do to his brother: and so put away the evil from among you. ^19:20And the rest of the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and never again do such evil among you. ^19:21Have no pity; let life be given for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

^20:1When you go out to war against other nations, and come face to face with horses and war-carriages and armies greater in number than yourselves, have no fear of them: for the Lord your God is with you, who took you up out of the land of Egypt. ^20:2And when you are on the point of attacking, let the priest come forward and say to the people, ^20:3Give ear, O Israel: today you are going forward to the fight; let your heart be strong; do not let uncontrolled fear overcome you because of those who are against you; ^20:4For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you. ^20:5And let the overseers say to the people, If there is any man who has made for himself a new house and has not gone into it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not take his house for himself. ^20:6Or if any man has made a vine-garden without taking the first-fruits of it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not be the first to make use of the fruit. ^20:7Or if any man is newly married and has had no sex relations with his wife, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another man may not take her. ^20:8And let the overseers go on to say to the people, If there is any man whose heart is feeble with fear, let him go back to his house before he makes the hearts of his countrymen feeble. ^20:9Then, after saying these words to the people, let the overseers put captains over the army. ^20:10When you come to a town, before attacking it, make an offer of peace. ^20:11And if it gives you back an answer of peace, opening its doors to you, then all the people in it may be put to forced work as your servants. ^20:12If however it will not make peace with you, but war, then let it be shut in on all sides: ^20:13And when the Lord your God has given it into your hands, let every male in it be put to death without mercy. ^20:14But the women and the children and the cattle and everything in the town and all its wealth, you may take for yourselves: the wealth of your haters, which the Lord your God has given you, will be your food. ^20:15So you are to do to all the towns far away, which are not the towns of these nations. ^20:16But in the towns of these peoples whose land the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, let no living thing be kept from death: ^20:17Give them up to the curse; the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has given you orders: ^20:18So that you may not take them as your example and do all the disgusting things which they do in the worship of their gods, so sinning against the Lord your God. ^20:19If in war a town is shut in by your armies for a long time, do not let its trees be cut down and made waste; for their fruit will be your food; are the trees of the countryside men for you to take up arms against them? ^20:20Only those trees which you are certain are not used for food may be cut down and put to destruction: and you are to make walls of attack against the town till it is taken.

^21:1If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death: ^21:2Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured; ^21:3And whichever town is nearest to the body, the responsible men of that town are to take from the herd a young cow which has never been used for work or put under the yoke; ^21:4And they are to take the cow into a valley where there is flowing water, and which is not ploughed or planted, and there the neck of the cow is to be broken: ^21:5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged: ^21:6And all the responsible men of that town which is nearest to the dead man, washing their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the valley, ^21:7Will say, This death is not the work of our hands and our eyes have not seen it. ^21:8Have mercy, O Lord, on your people Israel whom you have made free, and take away from your people the crime of a death without cause. Then they will no longer be responsible for the man's death. ^21:9So you will take away the crime of a death without cause from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. ^21:10When you go out to war against other nations, and the Lord your God gives them up into your hands and you take them as prisoners; ^21:11If among the prisoners you see a beautiful woman and it is your desire to make her your wife; ^21:12Then take her back to your house; and let her hair and her nails be cut; ^21:13And let her take off the dress in which she was made prisoner and go on living in your house and weeping for her father and mother for a full month: and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she will be your wife. ^21:14But if you have no delight in her, you are to let her go wherever she will; you may not take a price for her as if she was your property, for you have made use of her for your pleasure. ^21:15If a man has two wives, one greatly loved and the other hated, and the two of them have had children by him; and if the first son is the child of the hated wife: ^21:16Then when he gives his property to his sons for their heritage, he is not to put the son of his loved one in the place of the first son, the son of the hated wife: ^21:17But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his. ^21:18If a man has a son who is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, who gives no attention to the voice of his father and mother, and will not be ruled by them, though they give him punishment: ^21:19Then let his father and mother take him to the responsible men of the town, to the public place; ^21:20And say to them, This son of ours is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, he will not give attention to us; he gives himself up to pleasure and strong drink. ^21:21Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear. ^21:22If a man does a crime for which the punishment is death, and he is put to death by hanging him on a tree; ^21:23Do not let his body be on the tree all night, but put it to rest in the earth the same day; for the man who undergoes hanging is cursed by God; so do not make unclean the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

^22:1If you see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering, do not go by without helping, but take them back to your brother. ^22:2If their owner is not near, or if you are not certain who he is, then take the beast to your house and keep it till its owner comes in search of it, and then you are to give it back to him. ^22:3Do the same with his ass or his robe or anything which has gone from your brother's keeping and which you have come across: do not keep it to yourself. ^22:4If you see your brother's ox or his ass falling down on the road, do not go by without giving him help in lifting it up again. ^22:5It is not right for a woman to be dressed in man's clothing, or for a man to put on a woman's robe: whoever does such things is disgusting to the Lord your God. ^22:6If by chance you see a place which a bird has made for itself in a tree or on the earth, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird seated on the young ones or on the eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young: ^22:7See that you let the mother bird go, but the young ones you may take; so it will be well for you and your life will be long. ^22:8If you are building a house, make a railing for the roof, so that the blood of any man falling from it will not come on your house. ^22:9Do not have your vine-garden planted with two sorts of seed: or all of it may become a loss, the seed you have put in as well as the increase. ^22:10Do not do your ploughing with an ox and an ass yoked together. ^22:11Do not have clothing made of two sorts of thread, wool and linen together. ^22:12On the four edges of your robe, with which your body is covered, put ornaments of twisted threads. ^22:13If any man takes a wife, and having had connection with her, has no delight in her, ^22:14And says evil things about her and gives her a bad name, saying, I took this woman, and when I had connection with her it was clear to me that she was not a virgin: ^22:15Then let the girl's father and mother put before the responsible men of the town, in the public place, signs that the girl was a virgin: ^22:16And let the girl's father say to the responsible men, I gave my daughter to this man for his wife, but he has no love for her; ^22:17And now he has put shame on her, saying that she is not a virgin; but here is the sign that she is a virgin. Then they are to put her clothing before the responsible men of the town. ^22:18Then the responsible men of the town are to give the man his punishment; ^22:19They will take from him a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the father of the girl, because he has given an evil name to a virgin of Israel: she will go on being his wife, he may never put her away all his life. ^22:20But if what he has said is true, and she is seen to be not a virgin, ^22:21Then they are to make the girl come to the door of her father's house and she will be stoned to death by the men of the town, because she has done evil and put shame on Israel, by acting as a loose woman in her father's house: so you are to put away evil from among you. ^22:22If a man is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel. ^22:23If a young virgin has given her word to be married to a man, and another man meeting her in the town, has connection with her; ^22:24Then you are to take the two of them to the doorway of the town, and have them stoned to death; the young virgin, because she gave no cry for help, though it was in the town, and the man, because he has put shame on his neighbour's wife: so you are to put away evil from among you. ^22:25But if the man, meeting such a virgin in the open country, takes her by force, then only the man is to be put to death; ^22:26Nothing is to be done to the virgin, because there is no cause of death in her: it is the same as if a man made an attack on his neighbour and put him to death: ^22:27For he came across her in the open country, and there was no one to come to the help of the virgin in answer to her cry. ^22:28If a man sees a young virgin, who has not given her word to be married to anyone, and he takes her by force and has connection with her, and discovery is made of it; ^22:29Then the man will have to give the virgin's father fifty shekels of silver and make her his wife, because he has put shame on her; he may never put her away all his life. ^22:30A man may not take his father's wife or have sex relations with a woman who is his father's.

^23:1No man whose private parts have been wounded or cut off may come into the meeting of the Lord's people. ^23:2One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation. ^23:3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their people to the tenth generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people: ^23:4Because they gave you no bread or water on your way, when you came out of Egypt: and they got Balaam, the son of Peor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to put curses on you. ^23:5But the Lord your God would not give ear to Balaam, but let the curse be changed into a blessing to you, because of his love for you. ^23:6Do nothing for their peace or well-being for ever. ^23:7But have no hate for an Edomite, because he is your brother, or for an Egyptian, for you were living in his land. ^23:8Their children in the third generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people. ^23:9When you go out to war and put your tents in position, keep from every evil thing. ^23:10If any man among you becomes unclean through anything which has taken place in the night, he is to go out from the tent-circle and keep outside it: ^23:11But when evening comes near, let him take a bath: and after sundown he may come back to the tents. ^23:12Let there be a place outside the tent-circle to which you may go; ^23:13And have among your arms a spade; and when you have been to that place, let that which comes from you be covered up with earth: ^23:14For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you. ^23:15Do not give back to his master a servant who has gone in flight from his master and come to you: ^23:16Let him go on living among you in whatever place is most pleasing to him: do not be hard on him. ^23:17No daughter of Israel is to let herself be used as a loose woman for a strange god, and no son of Israel is to give himself to a man. ^23:18Do not take into the house of the Lord your God, as an offering for an oath, the price of a loose woman or the money given to one used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: for these two things are disgusting to the Lord your God. ^23:19Do not take interest from an Israelite on anything, money or food or any other goods, which you let him have: ^23:20From men of other nations you may take interest, but not from an Israelite: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on everything to which you put your hand, in the land which you are about to take as your heritage. ^23:21When you take an oath to the Lord, do not be slow to give effect to it: for without doubt the Lord your God will make you responsible, and will put it to your account as sin. ^23:22But if you take no oath, there will be no sin. ^23:23Whatever your lips have said, see that you do it; for you gave your word freely to the Lord your God. ^23:24When you go into your neighbour's vine-garden, you may take of his grapes at your pleasure, but you may not take them away in your vessel. ^23:25When you go into your neighbour's field, you may take the heads of grain with your hand; but you may not put your blade to his grain.

^24:1If a man takes a wife, and after they are married she is unpleasing to him because of some bad quality in her, let him give her a statement in writing and send her away from his house. ^24:2And when she has gone away from him, she may become another man's wife. ^24:3And if the second husband has no love for her and, giving her a statement in writing, sends her away; or if death comes to the second husband to whom she was married; ^24:4Her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her back after she has been wife to another; for that is disgusting to the Lord: and you are not to be a cause of sin in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage. ^24:5A newly married man will not have to go out with the army or undertake any business, but may be free for one year, living in his house for the comfort of his wife. ^24:6No one is to take, on account of a debt, the stones with which grain is crushed: for in doing so he takes a man's living. ^24:7If a man takes by force one of his countrymen, the children of Israel, using him as his property or getting a price for him, that thief is to be put to death: so you are to put away evil from among you. ^24:8In connection with the leper's disease, take care to keep and do every detail of the teaching of the priests, the Levites: as I gave them orders, so you are to do. ^24:9Keep in mind what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way, when you came out of Egypt. ^24:10If you let your brother have the use of anything which is yours, do not go into his house and take anything of his as a sign of his debt; ^24:11But keep outside till he comes out and gives it to you. ^24:12If he is a poor man, do not keep his property all night; ^24:13But be certain to give it back to him when the sun goes down, so that he may have his clothing for sleeping in, and will give you his blessing: and this will be put to your account as righteousness before the Lord your God. ^24:14Do not be hard on a servant who is poor and in need, if he is one of your countrymen or a man from another nation living with you in your land. ^24:15Give him his payment day by day, not keeping it back over night; for he is poor and his living is dependent on it; and if his cry against you comes to the ears of the Lord, it will be judged as sin in you. ^24:16Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers: every man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done. ^24:17Be upright in judging the cause of the man from a strange country and of him who has no father; do not take a widow's clothing on account of a debt: ^24:18But keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: for this is why I give you orders to do this. ^24:19When you get in the grain from your field, if some of the grain has been dropped by chance in the field, do not go back and get it, but let it be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on all the work of your hands. ^24:20When you are shaking the fruit from your olive-trees, do not go over the branches a second time: let some be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow. ^24:21When you are pulling the grapes from your vines, do not take up those which have been dropped; let them be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow. ^24:22Keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: for this is why I give you orders to do this.

^25:1If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer. ^25:2And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime. ^25:3He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you. ^25:4Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. ^25:5If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do. ^25:6Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel. ^25:7But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do. ^25:8Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her; ^25:9Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name. ^25:10And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off. ^25:11If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts; ^25:12Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her. ^25:13Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small; ^25:14Or in your house different measures, a great and a small. ^25:15But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ^25:16For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God. ^25:17Keep in mind what Amalek did to you on your way from Egypt; ^25:18How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him. ^25:19So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.

^26:1Now when you have come into the land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage, and you have made it yours and are living in it; ^26:2You are to take a part of the first-fruits of the earth, which you get from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place marked out by the Lord your God, as the resting-place of his name. ^26:3And you are to come to him who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give witness today before the Lord your God, that I have come into the land which the Lord made an oath to our fathers to give us. ^26:4Then the priest will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. ^26:5And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation: ^26:6And the Egyptians were cruel to us, crushing us under a hard yoke: ^26:7And our cry went up to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord's ear was open to the voice of our cry, and his eyes took note of our grief and the crushing weight of our work: ^26:8And the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with works of power and signs and wonders: ^26:9And he has been our guide to this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^26:10So now, I have come here with the first of the fruits of the earth which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you will put it down before the Lord your God and give him worship: ^26:11And you will have joy in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and to your family; and the Levite, and the man from a strange land who is with you, will take part in your joy. ^26:12When you have taken out a tenth from the tenth of all your produce in the third year, which is the year when this has to be done, give it to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and the child without a father, and the widow, so that they may have food in your towns and be full; ^26:13And say before the Lord your God, I have taken all the holy things out of my house and have given them to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and him who has no father, and the widow, as you have given me orders: I have kept in mind all your orders, in nothing have I gone against them: ^26:14No part of these things has been used for food in a time of weeping, or put away when I was unclean, or given for the dead: I have given ear to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all you have given me orders to do. ^26:15So, looking down from your holy place in heaven, send your blessing on your people Israel and on the land which you have given us, as you said in your oath to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^26:16Today the Lord your God gives you orders to keep all these laws and decisions: so then keep and do them with all your heart and all your soul. ^26:17Today you have given witness that the Lord is your God, and that you will go in his ways and keep his laws and his orders and his decisions and give ear to his voice: ^26:18And the Lord has made it clear this day that you are a special people to him, as he gave you his word; and that you are to keep all his orders; ^26:19And that he will make you high over all the nations he has made, in praise, in name, and in honour, and that you are to be a holy people to the Lord your God as he has said.

^27:1Then Moses and the responsible men of Israel gave the people these orders: Keep all the orders which I have given you this day; ^27:2And on the day when you go over Jordan into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, put up great stones, coating them with building-paste, ^27:3And writing on them all the words of this law, after you have gone over; so that you may take the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said. ^27:4And when you have gone over Jordan, you are to put up these stones, as I have said to you today, in Mount Ebal, and have them coated with building-paste. ^27:5There you are to make an altar to the Lord your God, of stones on which no iron instrument has been used. ^27:6You are to make the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones; offering on it burned offerings to the Lord your God: ^27:7And you are to make your peace-offerings, feasting there with joy before the Lord your God. ^27:8And put on the stones all the words of this law, writing them very clearly. ^27:9Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, said to all Israel, Be quiet and give ear, O Israel; today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ^27:10For this cause you are to give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and do his orders and his laws which I give you this day. ^27:11That same day Moses said to the people, ^27:12These are to take their places on Mount Gerizim for blessing the people when you have gone over Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin; ^27:13And these are to be on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ^27:14Then the Levites are to say in a loud voice to all the men of Israel, ^27:15Cursed is the man who makes any image of wood or stone or metal, disgusting to the Lord, the work of man's hands, and puts it up in secret. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:16Cursed is he who does not give honour to his father or mother. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:17Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's landmark from its place. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:18Cursed is he by whom the blind are turned out of the way. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:19Cursed is he who gives a wrong decision in the cause of a man from a strange land, or of one without a father, or of a widow. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:20Cursed is he who has sex relations with his father's wife, for he has put shame on his father. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:21Cursed is he who has sex relations with any sort of beast. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:22Cursed is he who has sex relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:23Cursed is he who has sex relations with his mother-in-law. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:24Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's life secretly. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:25Cursed is he who for a reward puts to death one who has done no wrong. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:26Cursed is he who does not take this law to heart to do it. And let all the people say, So be it.