^36:1Now the heads of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came to Moses, the chiefs and the heads of families of the children of Israel being present, ^36:2And said, The Lord gave orders to my lord to make distribution of the land as their heritage to the children of Israel: and my lord was ordered by the Lord to give the heritage of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters. ^36:3Now if they get married to any of the sons of other tribes of the children of Israel, then their property will be taken away from the heritage of our fathers, and become part of the heritage of the tribe into which they get married: and their heritage will be taken away from the heritage of our tribe. ^36:4And at the time of the Jubilee of the children of Israel, their property will be joined to the heritage of the tribe of which they are part and will be taken away from the heritage of the tribe of our fathers. ^36:5So by the direction of the Lord, Moses gave orders to the children of Israel, saying, What the tribe of the sons of Joseph have said is right. ^36:6This is the order of the Lord about the daughters of Zelophehad: The Lord says, Let them take as their husbands whoever is most pleasing to them, but only among the family of their father's tribe. ^36:7And so no property will be handed from tribe to tribe among the children of Israel; but every one of the children of Israel will keep the heritage of his father's tribe. ^36:8And every daughter owning property in any tribe of the children of Israel is to be married to one of the family of her father's tribe, so that every man of the children of Israel may keep the heritage of his fathers. ^36:9And no property will be handed from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel will keep its heritage. ^36:10So the daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord gave orders to Moses: ^36:11For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, took as their husbands the sons of their father's brothers: ^36:12And were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their property was kept in the tribe of their father's family ^36:13These are the laws and the orders which the Lord gave to the children of Israel by Moses, in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho.

Deuteronomy

^1:1These are the words which Moses said to all Israel on the far side of Jordan, in the waste land in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran on the one side, and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other. ^1:2It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. ^1:3Now in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses gave to the children of Israel all the orders which the Lord had given him for them; ^1:4After he had overcome Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, ruling in Ashtaroth, at Edrei: ^1:5On the far side of Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses gave the people this law, saying, ^1:6The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have been long enough in this mountain: ^1:7Make a move now, and go on your way into the hill-country of the Amorites and the places near it, in the Arabah and the hill-country and in the lowlands and in the South and by the seaside, all the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ^1:8See, all the land is before you: go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed after them. ^1:9At that time I said to you, I am not able to undertake the care of you by myself; ^1:10The Lord your God has given you increase, and now you are like the stars of heaven in number. ^1:11May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times greater in number than you are, and give you his blessing as he has said! ^1:12How is it possible for me by myself to be responsible for you, and undertake the weight of all your troubles and your arguments? ^1:13Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. ^1:14And you made answer and said to me, It is good for us to do as you say. ^1:15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and respected, and made them rulers over you, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds and captains of fifties and captains of tens, and overseers of your tribes. ^1:16And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him. ^1:17In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing. ^1:18And at that time I gave you all the orders which you were to do. ^1:19Then we went on from Horeb, through all that great and cruel waste which you saw, on our way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the Lord gave us orders; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. ^1:20And I said to you, You have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ^1:21See now, the Lord your God has put the land into your hands: go up and take it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you; have no fear and do not be troubled. ^1:22And you came near to me, every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us to go through the land with care and give us an account of the way we are to go and the towns to which we will come. ^1:23And what you said seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from among you, one from every tribe; ^1:24And they went up into the hill-country and came to the valley of Eshcol, and saw what was there. ^1:25And taking in their hands some of the fruit of the land, they came down again to us, and gave us their account, saying, It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us. ^1:26But going against the order of the Lord your God, you would not go up: ^1:27And you made an angry outcry in your tents, and said, In his hate for us the Lord has taken us out of the land of Egypt, to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction. ^1:28Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts feeble with fear by saying, The people are greater and taller than we are, and the towns are great and walled up to heaven; and more than this, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. ^1:29Then I said to you, Have no fear of them. ^1:30The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; ^1:31And in the waste land, where you have seen how the Lord was supporting you, as a man does his son, in all your journeying till you came to this place. ^1:32But for all this, you had no faith in the Lord your God, ^1:33Who goes before you on your way, looking for a place where you may put up your tents, in fire by night, lighting up the way you are to go, and in a cloud by day. ^1:34And the Lord, hearing your words, was angry, and said with an oath, ^1:35Truly, not one of this evil generation will see that good land which I said I would give to your fathers, ^1:36But only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he will see it; and to him and to his children I will give the land over which his feet have gone, because he has been true to the Lord with all his heart. ^1:37And, in addition, the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, You yourself will not go into it: ^1:38Joshua, the son of Nun, your servant, he will go into the land: say to him that he is to be strong, for he will be Israel's guide into their heritage. ^1:39And your little ones, who, you said, would come into strange hands, your children, who now have no knowledge of good or evil, they will go into that land, and to them I will give it and it will be theirs. ^1:40But as for you, go back, journeying into the waste land by the way of the Red Sea. ^1:41Then you said to me, We have done evil against the Lord, we will go up to the attack, as the Lord our God has given us orders. And arming yourselves every one, you made ready to go up without care into the hill-country. ^1:42And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up to the attack; for I am not among you, and you will be overcome by those who are against you. ^1:43This I said to you, but you gave no attention and went against the orders of the Lord, and in your pride went up into the hill-country. ^1:44And the Amorites who were in the hill-country came out against you and put you to flight, rushing after you like bees, and overcame you in Seir, driving you even as far as Hormah. ^1:45And you came back, weeping before the Lord; but the Lord gave no attention to your cries and did not give ear to you. ^1:46So you were kept waiting in Kadesh for a long time.

^2:1Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir. ^2:2And the Lord said to me, ^2:3You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north; ^2:4And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do: ^2:5Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage. ^2:6You may get food for your needs from them for a price, and water for drinking. ^2:7For the blessing of the Lord your God has been on you in all the work of your hands: he has knowledge of your wanderings through this great waste: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have been short of nothing. ^2:8So we went on past our brothers, the children of Esau, living in Seir, by the road through the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber. And turning, we went by the road through the waste land of Moab. ^2:9And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage. ^2:10(In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall; ^2:11They are numbered among the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but are named Emim by the Moabites. ^2:12And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.) ^2:13Get up now, and go over the stream Zered. So we went over the stream Zered. ^2:14Thirty-eight years had gone by from the time when we came away from Kadesh-barnea till we went over the stream Zered; by that time all the generation of the men of war among us were dead, as the Lord had said. ^2:15For the hand of the Lord was against them, working their destruction, till all were dead. ^2:16So when death had overtaken all the men of war among the people, ^2:17The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^2:18You are about to go by Ar, the limit of the country of Moab; ^2:19And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot. ^2:20(That land is said to have been a land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim had been living there in earlier times, but they were named Zamzummim by the Ammonites; ^2:21They were a great people, tall as the Anakim, and equal to them in number; but the Lord sent destruction on them and the children of Ammon took their place, living in their land; ^2:22As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day: ^2:23And the Avvim, living in the small towns as far as Gaza, came to destruction by the hands of the Caphtorim who came out from Caphtor and took their land.) ^2:24Get up now, and go on your journey, crossing over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hands Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and all his land: go forward to make it yours, and make war on him, ^2:25From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you. ^2:26Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, ^2:27Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left; ^2:28Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot; ^2:29As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us. ^2:30But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day. ^2:31And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours. ^2:32Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz. ^2:33And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people. ^2:34At that time we took all his towns, and gave them over to complete destruction, together with men, women, and children; we had no mercy on any: ^2:35Only the cattle we took for ourselves, with the goods from the towns we had taken. ^2:36From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands: ^2:37But you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, that is, all the side of the river Jabbok or the towns of the hill-country, wherever the Lord our God had said we were not to go.

^3:1Then turning we took the road to Bashan: and Og, king of Bashan, came out against us with all his people, and made an attack on us at Edrei. ^3:2And the Lord said to me, Have no fear of him: for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hands; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon. ^3:3So the Lord our God gave up Og, king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands; and we overcame him so completely that all his people came to their end in the fight. ^3:4At that time we took all his towns; there was not one town of the sixty towns, all the country of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which we did not take. ^3:5All these towns had high walls round them with doors and locks; and in addition we took a great number of unwalled towns. ^3:6And we put them to the curse, every town together with men, women, and children. ^3:7But we took for ourselves all the cattle and the stored wealth of the towns. ^3:8At that time we took their land from the two kings of the Amorites on the far side of Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon; ^3:9(By the Sidonians, Hermon is named Sirion, and by the Amorites Shenir;) ^3:10All the towns of the table-land and all Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ^3:11(For Og, king of Bashan, was the last of all the Rephaim; his bed was made of iron; is it not in Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon? It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, measured by the common cubit.) ^3:12And this land which we took at that time, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead with its towns, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites. ^3:13The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, all the land of Argob, together with Bashan, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (This land is named the land of the Rephaim. ^3:14Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the land of Argob, as far as the country of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, naming it, Bashan, Havvoth-Jair after himself, as it is to this day.) ^3:15And Gilead I gave to Machir. ^3:16And the land from Gilead to the valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a limit, as far as the river Jabbok which is the limit of the country of the children of Ammon, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites; ^3:17As well as the Arabah, with the river Jordan as their limit, from Chinnereth to the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah to the east. ^3:18At that time I gave you orders, saying, The Lord has given you this land for your heritage: all the men of war are to go over armed before your brothers the children of Israel. ^3:19But your wives and your little ones and your cattle (for it is clear that you have much cattle) may go on living in the towns I have given you; ^3:20Till the Lord has given rest to your brothers as to you, and till they have taken for themselves the land which the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of Jordan: then you may go back, every man of you, to the heritage which I have given you. ^3:21And I gave orders to Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen what the Lord your God has done to these two kings: so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you come. ^3:22Have no fear of them, for the Lord your God will be fighting for you. ^3:23And at that time I made request to the Lord, saying, ^3:24O Lord God, you have now for the first time let your servant see your great power and the strength of your hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth able to do such great works and such acts of power? ^3:25Let me go over, O Lord, and see the good land on the other side of Jordan, and that fair mountain country, even Lebanon. ^3:26But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not give ear to my prayer; and the Lord said to me, Let it be enough, say no more about this thing. ^3:27Go up to the top of Pisgah, and turning your eyes to the west and the north, to the south and the east, see the land with your eyes: for you are not to go over Jordan. ^3:28But give my orders to Joshua, comforting him and making him strong; for he is to go over Jordan at the head of this people, and he will give them this land which you will see for their heritage. ^3:29So we were waiting in the valley facing Beth-peor.

^4:1And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^4:2Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you. ^4:3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor. ^4:4But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today. ^4:5I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage. ^4:6So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people. ^4:7For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer? ^4:8And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today? ^4:9Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children; ^4:10That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children. ^4:11And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night. ^4:12And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice. ^4:13And he gave you his agreement with you, the ten rules which you were to keep, which he put in writing on the two stones of the law. ^4:14And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage. ^4:15So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire: ^4:16So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female, ^4:17Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air, ^4:18Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth. ^4:19And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven. ^4:20But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today. ^4:21And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and made an oath that I was not to go over Jordan into the good land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage: ^4:22But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage. ^4:23Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you. ^4:24For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other. ^4:25If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath: ^4:26May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end. ^4:27And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you. ^4:28There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling. ^4:29But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you. ^4:30When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice: ^4:31Because the Lord your God is a God of mercy, he will not take away his help from you or let destruction overtake you, or be false to the agreement which he made by an oath with your fathers. ^4:32Give thought now to the days which are past, before your time, from the day when God first gave life to man on the earth, and searching from one end of heaven to the other, see if such a great thing as this has ever been, or if anything like it has been talked of in story. ^4:33Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did? ^4:34Has God ever before taken a nation for himself from out of another nation, by punishments and signs and wonders, by war and by a strong hand and a stretched-out arm and great acts of wonder and fear, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes? ^4:35All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other. ^4:36Out of heaven itself his voice came to you, teaching you; and on earth he let you see his great fire; and his words came to your ears out of the heart of the fire. ^4:37And because of his love for your fathers, he took their seed and made it his, and he himself, present among you, took you out of Egypt by his great power; ^4:38Driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to take you into their land and give it to you for your heritage, as at this day. ^4:39So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God. ^4:40Then keep his laws and his orders which I give you today, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, and that your lives may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for ever. ^4:41Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east; ^4:42To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death: ^4:43The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh. ^4:44This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel: ^4:45These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt; ^4:46On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt: ^4:47And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east; ^4:48From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon, ^4:49And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah.

^5:1And Moses sent for all Israel, and said to them, Give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I give you today, and give attention to them so that you may keep and do them. ^5:2The Lord our God made an agreement with us in Horeb. ^5:3The Lord did not make this agreement with our fathers but with us, who are all living and present here today. ^5:4The word of the Lord came to you face to face on the mountain, out of the heart of the fire, ^5:5(I was between the Lord and you at that time, to make clear to you the word of the Lord: because, through fear of the fire, you did not go up the mountain;) saying, ^5:6I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house. ^5:7You are to have no other gods but me. ^5:8You may not make for yourselves an image in the form of anything in heaven or on earth or in the waters under the earth: ^5:9You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters; ^5:10And I will have mercy through a thousand generations on those who have love for me and keep my laws. ^5:11You are not to make use of the name of the Lord your God for an evil purpose; whoever takes the Lord's name on his lips for an evil purpose will be judged as a sinner by the Lord. ^5:12Keep the Sabbath day as a holy day, as you have been ordered by the Lord your God. ^5:13On six days do all your work: ^5:14But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on that day do no work, you or your son or your daughter, or your man-servant or your woman-servant, or your ox or your ass or any of your cattle, or the man from a strange country who is living among you; so that your man-servant and your woman-servant may have rest as well as you. ^5:15And keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God took you out of that land by his strong hand and his stretched-out arm: for this reason the Lord has given you orders to keep the Sabbath day. ^5:16Give honour to your father and your mother, as you have been ordered by the Lord your God; so that your life may be long and all may be well for you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ^5:17Do not put anyone to death without cause. ^5:18Do not be false to the married relation. ^5:19Do not take the property of another. ^5:20Do not give false witness against your neighbour; ^5:21Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's. ^5:22These words the Lord said to all of you together on the mountain, out of the heart of the fire, out of the cloud and the dark, with a great voice: and he said no more; he put them in writing on the two stones of the law and gave them to me. ^5:23And after hearing the voice which came out of the dark while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your chiefs came to me, ^5:24And said, The Lord has let us see his glory and his power, and his voice has come to us out of the fire: today we have seen that a man may go on living even after hearing the voice of God. ^5:25Why then is death to be our fate? For if the voice of the Lord our God comes to us any more, death will overtake us, and we will be burned up in this great fire. ^5:26For what man is there in all the earth, who, hearing the voice of the living God as we have, out of the heart of the fire, has been kept from death? ^5:27Do you go near: and after hearing everything which the Lord our God has to say, give us an account of all he has said to you, and we will give ear, and do it. ^5:28Then the Lord, hearing your words to me, said to me, The words which this people have said to you have come to my ears: what they have said is well said. ^5:29If only they had such a heart in them at all times, so that they might go in fear of me and keep my orders and that it might be well for them and for their children for ever! ^5:30Now say to them, Go back to your tents. ^5:31But as for you, keep your place here by me, and I will give you all the orders and the laws and the decisions which you are to make clear to them, so that they may do them in the land which I am giving them for their heritage. ^5:32Take care, then, to do whatever the Lord your God has given you orders to do; let there be no turning away to the right hand or to the left. ^5:33Go on walking in the way ordered for you by the Lord your God, so that life may be yours and it may be well for you, and your days may be long in the land of your heritage.

^6:1Now these are the orders and the laws and the decisions which the Lord your God gave me for your teaching, so that you might do them in the land of your heritage to which you are going: ^6:2So that living in the fear of the Lord your God, you may keep all his laws and his orders, which I give you: you and your son and your son's son, all the days of your life; and so that your life may be long. ^6:3So give ear, O Israel, and take care to do this; so that it may be well for you, and you may be greatly increased, as the Lord the God of your fathers has given you his word, in a land flowing with milk and honey. ^6:4Give ear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord: ^6:5And the Lord your God is to be loved with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ^6:6Keep these words, which I say to you this day, deep in your hearts; ^6:7Teaching them to your children with all care, 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. ^6:8Let them be fixed as a sign on your hand, and marked on your brow; ^6:9Have them lettered on the pillars of your houses and over the doors of your towns. ^6:10And when the Lord your God has taken you into the land which he gave his oath to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, that he would give you; with great and fair towns which were not of your building; ^6:11And houses full of good things not stored up by you, and places for storing water which you did not make, and vine-gardens and olive-trees not of your planting; and you have taken food and are full; ^6:12Then take care that you keep your hearts true to the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house. ^6:13Let the fear of the Lord your God be in your hearts, and be his servants, taking your oaths by his name. ^6:14Do not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about you; ^6:15For the Lord your God who is with you is a God who will not let his honour be given to another; or the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, causing your destruction from the face of the earth. ^6:16Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did in Massah. ^6:17Keep with care the orders of the Lord your God, and his rules and his laws which he has given you; ^6:18And do what is upright and good in the eyes of the Lord your God, so that it may be well for you and you may go in and take for your heritage that good land from which the Lord undertook by an oath to your fathers, ^6:19To send out from before you all those who are against you. ^6:20And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for these rules and laws and decisions which the Lord our God has given you? ^6:21Then you will say to your son, We were servants under Pharaoh's yoke in Egypt; and the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand: ^6:22And the Lord did great signs and wonders against Egypt, and against Pharaoh and all his house, before our eyes: ^6:23And he took us out from that place, guiding us here to give us this land, as he said in his oath to our fathers. ^6:24And the Lord gave us orders to keep all these laws, in the fear of the Lord our God, so that it might be well for us for ever, and that he might keep us from death, as he has done to this day. ^6:25And it will be our righteousness if we take care to keep all this order before the Lord our God as he has given it to us.

^7:1When the Lord your God takes you into the land where you are going, which is to be your heritage, and has sent out the nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you; ^7:2And when the Lord has given them up into your hands and you have overcome them, give them up to complete destruction: make no agreement with them, and have no mercy on them: ^7:3Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons. ^7:4For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly. ^7:5But this is what you are to do to them: their altars are to be pulled down and their pillars broken, and their holy trees cut down and their images burned with fire. ^7:6For you are a holy people to the Lord your God: marked out by the Lord your God to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth. ^7:7The Lord did not give you his love or take you for himself because you were more in number than any other people; for you were the smallest of the nations: ^7:8But because of his love for you, and in order to keep his oath to your fathers, the Lord took you out with the strength of his hand, making you free from the prison-house and from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. ^7:9Be certain, then, that the Lord your God is God; whose faith and mercy are unchanging, who keeps his word through a thousand generations to those who have love for him and keep his laws; ^7:10Rewarding his haters to their face with destruction; he will have no mercy on his hater, but will give him open punishment. ^7:11So keep the orders and the laws and the decisions which I give you today and do them. ^7:12And it will be, that if you give attention to these decisions and keep and do them, then the Lord will keep his agreement with you and his mercy, as he said in his oath to your fathers. ^7:13And he will give you his love, blessing you and increasing you: he will send his blessing on the offspring of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which by his oath to your fathers he undertook to give you. ^7:14You will have greater blessings than any other people: no male or female among you or among your cattle will be without offspring. ^7:15And the Lord will take away from you all disease, and will not put on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt which you have seen, but will put them on your haters. ^7:16And you are to send destruction on all the peoples which the Lord your God gives into your hands; have no pity on them, and do not give worship to their gods; for that will be a cause of sin to you. ^7:17If you say in your hearts, These nations are greater in number than we are: how are we to take their land from them? ^7:18Have no fear of them, but keep well in mind what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt; ^7:19The great punishments which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the strong hand and the stretched-out arm, by which the Lord your God took you out: so will the Lord your God do to all the peoples who are the cause of your fears. ^7:20And the Lord will send a hornet among them, till all the rest who have kept themselves safe from you in secret places have been cut off. ^7:21Have no fear of them: for the Lord your God is with you, a great God greatly to be feared. ^7:22The Lord your God will send out the nations before you little by little; they are not to be rooted out quickly, for fear that the beasts of the field may be increased overmuch against you. ^7:23But the Lord your God will give them up into your hands, overpowering them till their destruction is complete. ^7:24He will give their kings into your hands, and you will put their names out of existence under heaven; there is not one of them who will not give way before you, till their destruction is complete. ^7:25The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God: ^7:26And you may not take a disgusting thing into your house, and so become cursed with its curse: but keep yourselves from it, turning from it with fear and hate, for it is a cursed thing.

^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.