12:1These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth. 12:2You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. 12:3You shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place. 12:4You shall not do so to Yahweh your God. 12:5But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and there you shall come. 12:6There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 12:7There you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. 12:8You shall not do all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 12:9for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you. 12:10But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety; 12:11then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh. 12:12You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 12:13Be careful that you don’t offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 12:14but in the place which Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. 12:15Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat meat within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the deer. 12:16Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 12:17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; 12:18but you shall eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand to. 12:19Be careful that you don’t forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. 12:20When Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has promised you, and you say, “I want to eat meat,” because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul. 12:21If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. 12:22Even as the gazelle and as the deer is eaten, so you shall eat of it. The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 12:23Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat. 12:24You shall not eat it. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 12:25You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes. 12:26Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose. 12:27You shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on Yahweh your God’s altar; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on Yahweh your God’s altar; and you shall eat the meat. 12:28Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in Yahweh your God’s eyes. 12:29When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; 12:30be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.” 12:31You shall not do so to Yahweh your God; for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. 12:32Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
13:1If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 13:2and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let us serve them”; 13:3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 13:4You shall walk after Yahweh your God, fear him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cling to him. 13:5That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall remove 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 bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known, you, nor your fathers; 13:7of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; 13:8you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him; 13:9but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. 13:10You shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 13:11All Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more wickedness like this among you. 13:12If you shall hear about one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, that 13:13certain wicked fellows have gone out from among you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known; 13:14then you shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination was done among you, 13:15you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, with all that is therein and its livestock, with the edge of the sword. 13:16You shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, and all of its plunder, to Yahweh your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. 13:17Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand, that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers; 13:18when you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep all his commandments which I command you today, to do that which is right in Yahweh your God’s eyes.
14:1You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 14:2For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 14:3You shall not eat any abominable thing. 14:4These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 14:5the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois. 14:6Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that may you eat. 14:7Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof cloven: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit. Because they chew the cud but don’t part the hoof, they are unclean to you. 14:8The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses. 14:9These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales may you eat. 14:10You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean to you. 14:11Of all clean birds you may eat. 14:12But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, 14:13the red kite, the falcon, the kite after its kind, 14:14every raven after its kind, 14:15the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk after its kind, 14:16the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl, 14:17the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant, 14:18the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 14:19All winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten. 14:20Of all clean birds you may eat. 14:21You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. 14:22You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year. 14:23You shall eat before Yahweh your God, in the place which he chooses, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. 14:24If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which Yahweh your God shall choose, to set his name there, when Yahweh your God shall bless you; 14:25then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose. 14:26You shall trade the money for whatever your soul desires, for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you; and you shall eat there before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 14:27You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 14:28At the end of every three years you shall bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall store it within your gates. 14:29The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner living among you, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
15:1At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. 15:2This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother; because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed. 15:3Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. 15:4However there shall be no poor with you (for Yahweh will surely bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it) 15:5if only you diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you today. 15:6For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. 15:7If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; 15:8but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. 15:9Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you. 15:10You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to. 15:11For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land. 15:12If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 15:13When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty. 15:14You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15:15You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today. 15:16It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; 15:17then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. 15:18It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for he has been double value of a hired hand as he served you six years. Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do. 15:19You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 15:20You shall eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place which Yahweh shall choose, you and your household. 15:21If it has any defect, is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. 15:22You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the deer. 15:23Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.
16:1Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 16:2You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 16:3You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste; that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 16:4No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. 16:5You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; 16:6but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt. 16:7You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents. 16:8Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work. 16:9You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks. 16:10You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you. 16:11You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 16:12You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes. 16:13You shall keep the feast of tents seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 16:14You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates. 16:15You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses; because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. 16:16Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty. 16:17Every man shall give as he is able, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you. 16:18You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 16:19You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. 16:20You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 16:21You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves. 16:22Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which Yahweh your God hates.
17:1You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a defect, or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 17:2If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight, in transgressing his covenant, 17:3and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded; 17:4and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel, 17:5then you shall bring out that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, even that same man or woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones. 17:6At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 17:7The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 17:8If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. 17:9You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. 17:10You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you: 17:11according to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 17:12The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel. 17:13All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. 17:14When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and possess it, and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me”; 17:15you shall surely set him king over yourselves, whom Yahweh your God chooses. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 17:16Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.” 17:17He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 17:18It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites. 17:19It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; 17:20that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn away from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the middle of Israel.
18:1The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion. 18:2They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 18:3This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. 18:4The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 18:5For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons for ever. 18:6If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose; 18:7then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh. 18:8They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions. 18:9When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. 18:10There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, 18:11or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 18:12For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. 18:13You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God. 18:14For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do. 18:15Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. 18:16This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.” 18:17Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. 18:18I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 18:19It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 18:20But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” 18:21You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?” 18:22When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
19:1When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you succeed them and dwell in their cities and in their houses; 19:2you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it. 19:3You shall prepare the way, and divide the borders of your land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit into three parts, that every man slayer may flee there. 19:4This is the case of the man slayer who shall flee there and live. Whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and didn’t hate him in time past; 19:5as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood and his hand swings the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. 19:6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the man slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally; even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him in time past. 19:7Therefore I command you to set apart three cities for yourselves. 19:8If Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers; 19:9if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, besides these three. 19:10This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you. 19:11But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities; 19:12then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 19:13Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you. 19:14You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess. 19:15One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. 19:16If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 19:17then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; 19:18and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; 19:19then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 19:20Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and will never again commit any such evil among you. 19:21Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
20:1When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 20:2It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, 20:3and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them; 20:4for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” 20:5The officers shall speak to the people, saying, “What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. 20:6What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit. 20:7What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.” 20:8The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart.” 20:9It shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people. 20:10When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. 20:11It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become forced laborers to you, and shall serve you. 20:12If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it. 20:13When Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword; 20:14but the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its plunder, you shall take for plunder for yourself. You may use the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. 20:15Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. 20:16But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; 20:17but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has commanded you; 20:18that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God. 20:19When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you? 20:20Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. You shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
21:1If someone is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him; 21:2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain. 21:3It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke. 21:4The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 21:5The priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in Yahweh’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided. 21:6All the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 21:7They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 21:8Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood among your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them. 21:9So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes. 21:10When you go out to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive, 21:11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire to her, and desire to take her as your wife; 21:12then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails. 21:13She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 21:14It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her. 21:15If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated; 21:16then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; 21:17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. 21:18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them; 21:19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place. 21:20They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21:21All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear. 21:22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree; 21:23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
22:1You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother. 22:2If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother comes looking for it, and you shall restore it to him. 22:3So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost, and you have found. You may not hide yourself. 22:4You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again. 22:5A woman shall not wear men’s clothing, neither shall a man put on women’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 22:6If you come across a bird’s nest on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young. 22:7You shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days. 22:8When you build a new house, then you shall make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring blood on your house if anyone falls from there. 22:9You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest all the fruit be defiled, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard. 22:10You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 22:11You shall not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together. 22:12You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself. 22:13If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, hates her, 22:14accuses her of shameful things, and gives her a bad name, and says, “I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I didn’t find in her the tokens of virginity”; 22:15then the young lady’s father and mother shall take and bring the tokens of the young lady’s virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 22:16The young lady’s father shall tell the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man as his wife, and he hates her. 22:17Behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, ‘I didn’t find in your daughter the tokens of virginity;’ and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity.” They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 22:18The elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him. 22:19They shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young lady, because he has given a bad name to a virgin of Israel. She shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days. 22:20But if this thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young lady; 22:21then they shall bring out the young lady to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done folly in Israel, to play the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 22:22If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel. 22:23If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her; 22:24then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 22:25But if the man finds the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man forces her, and lies with her; then only the man who lay with her shall die; 22:26but to the lady you shall do nothing. There is in the lady no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor, and kills him, even so is this matter; 22:27for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her. 22:28If a man finds a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, grabs her, and lies with her, and they are found; 22:29then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady’s father fifty shekels of silver. She shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days. 22:30A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.
23:1He who is emasculated by crushing or cutting shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly. 23:2A person born of a forbidden union shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one of his enter into Yahweh’s assembly. 23:3An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into Yahweh’s assembly forever; 23:4because they didn’t meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 23:5Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you. 23:6You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever. 23:7You shall not abhor an Edomite; for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. 23:8The children of the third generation who are born to them may enter into Yahweh’s assembly. 23:9When you go out and camp against your enemies, then you shall keep yourselves from every evil thing. 23:10If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of that which happens him by night, then shall he go outside of the camp. He shall not come within the camp; 23:11but it shall be, when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water. When the sun is down, he shall come within the camp. 23:12You shall have a place also outside of the camp where you go relieve yourself. 23:13You shall have a trowel among your weapons. It shall be, when you relieve yourself, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover your excrement; 23:14for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you. 23:15You shall not deliver to his master a servant who has escaped from his master to you. 23:16He shall dwell with you, among you, in the place which he shall choose within one of your gates, where it pleases him best. You shall not oppress him. 23:17There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 23:18You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God. 23:19You shall not lend on interest to your brother; interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest. 23:20You may lend on interest to a foreigner; but to your brother you shall not lend on interest, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go in to possess it. 23:21When you vow a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. 23:22But if you refrain from making a vow, it shall be no sin in you. 23:23You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to Yahweh your God as a freewill offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do. 23:24When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat of grapes your fill at your own pleasure; but you shall not put any in your container. 23:25When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.
24:1When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 24:2When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 24:3If the latter husband hates her, and write her a bill of divorce, and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; 24:4her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. 24:5When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken. 24:6No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge; for he takes a life in pledge. 24:7If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him; then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 24:8Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do. 24:9Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt. 24:10When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 24:11You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge outside to you. 24:12If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. 24:13You shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you. It shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God. 24:14You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers, or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates. 24:15In his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you. 24:16The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 24:17You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge; 24:18but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you there. Therefore I command you to do this thing. 24:19When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 24:20When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 24:21When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 24:22You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.
25:1If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 25:2It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. 25:3He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more; lest, if he should give more, and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight. 25:4You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain. 25:5If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 25:6It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel. 25:7If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.” 25:8Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he stands and says, “I don’t want to take her”; 25:9then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall answer and say, “So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.” 25:10His name shall be called in Israel, “The house of him who had his shoe removed.” 25:11When men strive against each other, and the wife of one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts out her hand, and takes him by his private parts, 25:12then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 25:13You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. 25:14You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. 25:15You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 25:16For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God. 25:17Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt; 25:18how he met you by the way, and struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God. 25:19Therefore it shall be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. You shall not forget.
26:1It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 26:2that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 26:3You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.” 26:4The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Yahweh your God’s altar. 26:5You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 26:6The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 26:7Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 26:8Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 26:9and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 26:10Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God. 26:11You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you. 26:12When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled. 26:13You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 26:14I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 26:15Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 26:16Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 26:17You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. 26:18Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. 26:19He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.
27:1Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 27:2It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. 27:3You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over; that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 27:4It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster. 27:5There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. 27:6You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God. 27:7You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God. 27:8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.” 27:9Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent, and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God. 27:10You shall therefore obey Yahweh your God’s voice, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” 27:11Moses commanded the people the same day, saying, 27:12“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 27:13These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 27:14With a loud voice, the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel, 27:15‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ 27:16‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:17‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:18‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:20‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:21‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:22‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:23‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:24‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:25‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 27:26‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
28:1It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 28:2All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. 28:3You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. 28:4You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. 28:5Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. 28:6You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. 28:7Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. 28:8Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 28:9Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. 28:10All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by Yahweh’s name, and they will be afraid of you. 28:11Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. 28:12Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. 28:13Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath; if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do, 28:14and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 28:15But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you, and overtake you. 28:16You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field. 28:17Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 28:18The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. 28:19You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out. 28:20Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. 28:21Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it. 28:22Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish. 28:23Your sky that is over your head will be brass, and the earth that is under you will be iron. 28:24Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed. 28:25Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. 28:26Your dead body will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away. 28:27Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. 28:28Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. 28:29You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you. 28:30You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit. 28:31Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. 28:32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand. 28:33A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always; 28:34so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad. 28:35Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you can not be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 28:36Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone. 28:37You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. 28:38You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in; for the locust will consume it. 28:39You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them. 28:40You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives will drop off. 28:41You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go into captivity. 28:42Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground. 28:43The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower. 28:44He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail. 28:45All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. 28:46They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever. 28:47Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; 28:48therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck, until he has destroyed you. 28:49Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you will not understand; 28:50a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young, 28:51and they will eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. 28:52They will besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you. 28:53You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. 28:54The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining; 28:55so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. 28:56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter, 28:57toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates. 28:58If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD; 28:59then Yahweh will make your plagues fearful, and the plagues of your offspring, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration. 28:60He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you. 28:61Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you, until you are destroyed. 28:62You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. 28:63It will happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess. 28:64Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. 28:65Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. 28:66Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. 28:67In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. 28:68Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
29:1These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 29:2Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; 29:3the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 29:4But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. 29:5I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoes have not grown old on your feet. 29:6You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you may know that I am Yahweh your God. 29:7When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them. 29:8We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. 29:9Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 29:10All of you stand today in the presence of Yahweh your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 29:11your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water; 29:12that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God, and into his oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you today; 29:13that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 29:14Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only, 29:15but with those who stand here with us today before Yahweh our God, and also with those who are not here with us today 29:16(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed; 29:17and you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them); 29:18lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison; 29:19and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.” 29:20Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky. 29:21Yahweh will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law. 29:22The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land, will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick; 29:23and that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath; 29:24even all the nations will say, “Why has Yahweh done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?” 29:25Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 29:26and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know, and that he had not given to them. 29:27Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book. 29:28Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.” 29:29The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
30:1It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you, 30:2and return to Yahweh your God, and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul; 30:3that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 30:4If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. 30:5Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers. 30:6Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. 30:7Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 30:8You shall return and obey Yahweh’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today. 30:9Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers; 30:10if you will obey Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul. 30:11For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. 30:12It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 30:13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 30:14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 30:15Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. 30:16For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 30:17But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 30:18I denounce to you today, that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 30:19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants; 30:20to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
31:1Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 31:2He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. Yahweh has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 31:3Yahweh your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken. 31:4Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed. 31:5Yahweh will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 31:6Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them; for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.” 31:7Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it. 31:8Yahweh himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.” 31:9Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. 31:10Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tents, 31:11when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 31:12Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; 31:13and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.” 31:14Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. 31:15Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door. 31:16Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 31:17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’ 31:18I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods. 31:19“Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 31:20For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 31:21It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.” 31:22So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. 31:23He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you.” 31:24When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 31:25Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, saying, 31:26“Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of Yahweh your God’s covenant, that it may be there for a witness against you. 31:27For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death? 31:28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 31:29For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.” 31:30Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.