Deuteronomy 12-26

Darby Translation

12 These are the statutes and ordinances, which ye shall take heed to do in the land, which Jehovah the God of thy fathers is giving thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

² Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall dispossess have served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree;

³ and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place.

⁴ Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God;

⁵ but unto the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to set his name there, his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;

⁶ and thither ye shall bring your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your voluntary-offerings, and the firstlings of your kine and of your sheep;

⁷ and ye shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice, ye and your households, in all the business of your hand, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.

⁸ Ye shall not do after all that we do here this day, each one whatever is right in his own eyes.

⁹ For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

¹⁰ But when ye have gone over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God causeth you to inherit, and when he hath given you rest from all your enemies round about, and ye dwell in safety,

¹¹ then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God will choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye shall vow to Jehovah.

¹² And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your bondmen, and your handmaids, and the Levite that is within your gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with you.

¹³ Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest;

¹⁴ but in the place which Jehovah will choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

¹⁵ Nevertheless, according to all the desire of thy soul thou mayest slay and eat flesh in all thy gates, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and the hart.

¹⁶ Only, ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

¹⁷ Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy kine or of thy sheep, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy voluntary-offerings, nor the heave-offering of thy hand;

¹⁸ but before Jehovah thy God shalt thou eat them in the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is within thy gates; and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all the business of thy hand.

¹⁹ Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite all the days thou shalt be in thy land.

²⁰ When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he promised thee, and thou say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh, thou mayest eat flesh, according to all the desire of thy soul.

²¹ If the place which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt slay of thy kine and of thy sheep which Jehovah hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates according to all the desire of thy soul.

²² Even as the gazelle and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean alike may eat of them.

²³ Only, be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh;

²⁴ thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water:

²⁵ thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

²⁶ But thy hallowed things which thou hast, and what thou hast vowed, thou shalt take, and come to the place which Jehovah will choose;

²⁷ and thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah thy God; and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and the flesh shalt thou eat.

²⁸ Take heed to hear all these words which I command thee, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest what is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

²⁹ When Jehovah thy God cutteth off from before thee the nations whither thou goest, to take possession of them, and thou hast dispossessed them, and dwellest in their land,

³⁰ take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared [to follow] after them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

³¹ Thou shalt not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every [thing that is] abomination to Jehovah, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burned in the fire to their gods.

³² Everything that I command you, ye shall take heed to do it; thou shalt not add thereto, nor take from it.

13 If there arise among you a prophet, or one that dreameth dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder,

² and the sign or the wonder come to pass that he told unto thee, when he said, Let us go after other gods, whom thou hast not known, and let us serve them,

³ —thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for Jehovah your God proveth you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴ Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and ye shall fear him, and his commandments shall ye keep, and his voice shall ye hear; and ye shall serve him, and unto him shall ye cleave.

⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; for he hath spoken revolt against Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage,—to draw thee out of the way that Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

⁶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is to thee as thy soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods (whom thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

⁷ of the gods of the peoples which are round about you, near unto thee, or far from thee, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth),

⁸ thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou pity him, neither shalt thou screen him,

⁹ but thou shalt in any case kill him: thy hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people;

¹⁰ and thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; for he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

¹¹ and all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wicked thing as this in thy midst.

¹² If in one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee to dwell there, thou hearest, saying,

¹³ There are men, children of Belial, gone out from among you, and they have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom ye have not known;

¹⁴ then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and if it be truth, [and] the thing be certain, that this abomination hath happened in the midst of thee,

¹⁵ thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it to destruction, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶ And all the spoil of it shalt thou gather into the midst of the open place thereof, and shalt burn the city with fire, and all the spoil thereof, wholly to Jehovah thy God; and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

¹⁷ And thou shalt not let anything cleave to thy hand of the devoted thing; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

¹⁸ when thou hearkenest to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, that thou mayest do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

14 Ye are sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for a dead person.

² For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

³ Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

⁴ These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;

⁵ the hart, and the gazelle, and the stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep.

⁶ And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, [and] which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat.

⁷ Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs—they shall be unclean unto you;

⁸ and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud—it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch.

⁹ These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat;

¹⁰ but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you.

¹¹ All clean birds shall ye eat.

¹² But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle,

¹³ and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind;

¹⁴ and every raven after its kind;

¹⁵ and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind;

¹⁶ the owl, and the ibis and the swan,

¹⁷ and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet,

¹⁸ and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹ And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten.

²⁰ All clean fowls shall ye eat.

²¹ Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

²² Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, the produce of the field, year by year.

²³ And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he will choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually.

²⁴ And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God blesseth thee;

²⁵ then shalt thou give it for money, and bind the money together in thy hand, and go to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose,

²⁶ and thou shalt give the money for whatever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thy house.

²⁷ And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that is within thy gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee.

²⁸ At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates;

²⁹ and the Levite—for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee—and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.

15 At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release,

² and this is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall relax his hand from the loan which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not demand it of his neighbour, or of his brother; for a release to Jehovah hath been proclaimed.

³ Of the foreigner thou mayest demand it; but what is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release;

⁴ save when there shall be no one in need among you; for Jehovah will greatly bless thee in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it,

⁵ if thou only diligently hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

⁶ For Jehovah thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee; and thou shalt lend on pledge to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.

⁷ If there be amongst you a poor man, any one of thy brethren in one of thy gates, in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy brother in need;

⁸ but thou shalt open thy hand bountifully unto him, and shalt certainly lend him on pledge what is sufficient for his need, [in that] which he lacketh.

⁹ Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be sin in thee.

¹⁰ Thou shalt bountifully give unto him, and thy heart shall not be evil-disposed when thou givest unto him; because for this thing Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all the business of thy hand.

¹¹ For the needy shall never cease from within the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand bountifully unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy, in thy land.

¹² If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, have been sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years, and in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

¹³ And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty;

¹⁴ thou shalt certainly furnish him from thy sheep, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of what Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee with shalt thou give unto him.

¹⁵ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing to-day.

¹⁶ And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee,—because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee,—

¹⁷ then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear and into the door; and he shall be thy bondman for ever. And also unto thy handmaid thou shalt do likewise.

¹⁸ Let it not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for double the worth of a hired servant hath he been to thee, [in] serving thee six years; and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest.

¹⁹ Every firstling that is born among thy kine and among thy sheep that is a male, thou shalt hallow to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy kine, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

²⁰ Thou shalt eat it before Jehovah thy God, year by year, in the place which Jehovah will choose, thou and thy household.

²¹ But if there be a defect therein, [if it be] lame, or blind, [or have] any evil defect, thou shalt not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God.

²² In thy gates shalt thou eat it; the unclean and the clean [shall eat it] alike, as the gazelle and as the hart.

²³ Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof: thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.

16 Keep the month of Abib, and celebrate the passover to Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

² And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah will choose to cause his name to dwell there.

³ Thou shalt eat no leavened bread along with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste,—that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life.

⁴ And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst at even on the first day, be left over night until the morning.—

⁵ Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover in one of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee;

⁶ but at the place that Jehovah thy God will choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the time that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

⁷ And thou shalt cook and eat it at the place which Jehovah thy God will choose; and in the morning shalt thou turn and go unto thy tents.

⁸ Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a solemn assembly to Jehovah thy God; thou shalt do no work.

⁹ Seven weeks shalt thou count: from the beginning of putting the sickle into the corn shalt thou begin to count seven weeks.

¹⁰ And thou shalt hold the feast of weeks to Jehovah thy God with a tribute of a voluntary-offering of thy hand, which thou shalt give, according as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee;

¹¹ and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is in thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are in thy midst in the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there.

¹² And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt keep and do these statutes.

¹³ The feast of tabernacles shalt thou hold seven days, when thou hast gathered in [the produce] of thy floor and of thy winepress.

¹⁴ And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in thy gates.

¹⁵ Seven days shalt thou hold a feast to Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah will choose; for Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy produce, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be wholly joyful.

¹⁶ Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he will choose, at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Jehovah empty:

¹⁷ each [shall give] according to that which is in his power to give, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee.

¹⁸ Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes, that they may judge the people with just judgment.

¹⁹ Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for the bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

²⁰ Perfect justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and possess the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

²¹ Thou shalt not plant thyself an Asherah of any wood near unto the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

²² Neither shalt thou set thee up a statue, which Jehovah thy God hateth.

17 Thou shalt not sacrifice to Jehovah thy God an ox or sheep wherein is a defect, or anything bad; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

² If there be found in thy midst in any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth what is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

³ and goeth and serveth other gods, and boweth down to them, either to the sun or to the moon, or to the whole host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

⁴ and it be told thee, and thou hearest of it; then thou shalt make thorough inquiry, and if it be truth [and] the thing be certain, that this abomination hath been wrought in Israel,

⁵ thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman, who committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, the man or the woman, and shalt stone them with stones, that they die.

⁶ At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death: he shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness.

⁷ The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

⁸ If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between cause and cause, and between stroke and stroke, matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise, and go up to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose.

⁹ And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall declare unto thee the sentence of judgment;

¹⁰ and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the word, which they of that place which Jehovah will choose shall declare unto thee; and thou shalt take heed to do according to all that they instruct thee:

¹¹ according to the sentence of the law which they shall declare unto thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the word which they shall declare unto thee, to the right hand, or the left.

¹² And the man that shall act presumptuously, and not hearken unto the priest that standeth to serve there before Jehovah thy God, or unto the judge, that man shall die; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

¹³ And all the people shall hear, and fear, and no more act presumptuously.

¹⁴ When thou comest unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me;

¹⁵ thou shalt only set him king over thee whom Jehovah thy God will choose: from among thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee; thou mayest not set a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.

¹⁶ Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people to Egypt, to multiply horses; for Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall not return again any more that way.

¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

¹⁸ And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites;

¹⁹ and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;

²⁰ that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

18 The priests, the Levites, [and] the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: Jehovah's offerings by fire, and his inheritance shall they eat,

² but they shall have no inheritance among their brethren: Jehovah, he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

³ And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that sacrifice a sacrifice, whether ox, or sheep: they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the jawbones, and the maw.

⁴ The firstfruits [also] of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstfruits of the shearing of thy sheep, shalt thou give him;

⁵ for Jehovah thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, that he may stand to serve in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons continually.

⁶ And if the Levite shall come from one of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and shall come according to all the desire of his soul unto the place which Jehovah will choose,

⁷ and shall serve in the name of Jehovah his God, as all his brethren the Levites that stand there before Jehovah,

⁸ —they shall have like portions to eat, besides that which he hath sold of his patrimony.

⁹ When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.

¹⁰ There shall not be found among you he that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, that useth divination, that useth auguries, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

¹¹ or a charmer, or one that inquireth of a spirit of Python, or a soothsayer, or one that consulteth the dead.

¹² For every one that doeth these things is an abomination to Jehovah, and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth dispossess them from before thee.

¹³ Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God.

¹⁴ For these nations, which thou shalt dispossess, hearkened unto those that use auguries, and that use divination; but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee [to do] so.

¹⁵ Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken;

¹⁶ according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

¹⁷ And Jehovah said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

¹⁸ A prophet will I raise up unto them from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass that the man who hearkeneth not unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

²⁰ But the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

²¹ And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word that Jehovah hath not spoken?

²² When a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, and the thing followeth not, nor cometh to pass, that is the word which Jehovah hath not spoken; the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: be not afraid of him.

19 When Jehovah thy God hath cut off the nations whose land Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and thou hast dispossessed them, and dwellest in their cities and in their houses,

² thou shalt separate three cities for thyself in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess.

³ Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and divide the territory of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, so that every slayer may flee thither.

⁴ And this is the case of the slayer who shall flee thither that he may live: he that smiteth his neighbour unwittingly, whom he hated not previously;

⁵ as when he goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron slippeth from the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; such an one shall flee unto one of these cities, and live;

⁶ lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, since he hated him not previously.

⁷ Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thyself.

⁸ And if Jehovah thy God enlarge thy border, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers

⁹ (if thou keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk in his ways continually), then shalt thou add three cities more for thyself to these three,

¹⁰ that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and blood come not upon thee.

¹¹ But if a man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and he flee into one of these cities,

¹² then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

¹³ Thine eye shall not spare him; and thou shalt put away innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have fixed in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess.

¹⁵ One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, and for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.

¹⁶ If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of an offence;

¹⁷ then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days;

¹⁸ and the judges shall make thorough inquiry; and if the witness be a false witness, and he have testified falsely against his brother,

¹⁹ then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²⁰ And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in thy midst.

²¹ And thine eye shall not spare: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

20 When thou goest out to war against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, [and] a people more numerous than thou, thou shalt not fear them; for Jehovah thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

² And it shall be, when ye approach unto the battle, that the priest shall draw near and speak unto the people,

³ and shall say unto them, Hear, Israel, ye are approaching this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be afraid of them;

⁴ for Jehovah your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁵ And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

⁶ And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not eaten of it? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.

⁷ And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.

⁸ And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and shall say, What man is there that is timid and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as well as his heart.

⁹ And it shall be, when the officers have ended speaking unto the people, that they shall place captains of the hosts at the head of the people.

¹⁰ When thou approachest unto a city to fight against it, thou shalt proclaim peace unto it.

¹¹ And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

¹² And if it will not make peace with thee, but will make war with thee, then thou shalt besiege it;

¹³ and when Jehovah thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

¹⁴ only the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that shall be in the city, all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take as booty for thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee

¹⁵ Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities that are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶ But of the cities of these peoples which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth,

¹⁷ but shalt utterly devote them to destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee;

¹⁸ that they teach you not to do according to all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods, so that ye sin against Jehovah your God.

¹⁹ When thou shalt besiege a city many days, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by lifting up an axe against them; for thou canst eat of them; and thou shalt not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man that it should be besieged?

²⁰ Only the trees which thou knowest are not trees for meat, thou mayest destroy and cut them down, and build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall.

21 If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath smitten him,

² then thine elders and thy judges shall go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;

³ and the city that is nearest unto him that is slain, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer that hath not been wrought with, that hath not drawn in the yoke;

⁴ and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto an ever-flowing watercourse, which is not tilled, nor is it sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the watercourse;

⁵ and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to do service unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word shall be every controversy and every stroke.

⁶ And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto him that is slain, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck is broken in the watercourse,

⁷ and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

⁸ Forgive thy people Israel, whom thou, Jehovah, hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel; and the blood shall be expiated for them.

⁹ So shalt thou put away innocent blood from thy midst, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

¹⁰ When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou hast taken captives of them,

¹¹ and thou seest among the captives a woman of beautiful form, and hast a desire unto her, and takest her as thy wife;

¹² then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

¹³ and she shall put the clothes of her captivity from off her, and shall abide in thy house, and bewail her father and mother a full month, and afterwards thou mayest go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

¹⁴ And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go according to her desire; but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money; thou shalt not treat her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.

¹⁵ If a man have two wives, one beloved, and one hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;

¹⁶ then it shall be, in the day that he maketh his sons to inherit what he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;

¹⁷ but he shall acknowledge as firstborn the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that is found with him; for he is the firstfruits of his vigour: the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ If a man have an unmanageable and rebellious son, who hearkeneth not unto the voice of his father, nor unto the voice of his mother, and they have chastened him, but he hearkeneth not unto them;

¹⁹ then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

²⁰ and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is unmanageable and rebellious, he hearkeneth not unto our voice; he is a profligate and a drunkard.

²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. And thou shalt put evil away from thy midst; and all Israel shall hear and fear.

²² And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou have hanged him on a tree,

²³ his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is a curse of God); and thou shalt not defile thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

22 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them back unto thy brother.

² And if thy brother be not near unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it unto him.

³ And so shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his clothing; and so shalt thou do with everything that is lost of thy brother, which he loseth, and thou findest: thou mayest not hide thyself.

⁴ Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case [help] him to lift them up.

⁵ There shall not be a man's apparel on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever doeth so is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

⁶ If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or upon the ground, with young or with eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

⁷ thou shalt in any case let the dam go, and thou mayest take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

⁸ When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any one should in any wise fall from it.

⁹ Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with [seed of] two sorts, lest the whole of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the produce of thy vineyard, be forfeited.

¹⁰ Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

¹¹ Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixed material, [woven] of wool and linen together.

¹² Tassels shalt thou make thee on the four corners of thy clothing, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

¹³ If a man take a wife, and go in unto her and hate her,

¹⁴ and charge her with things for scandalous talk, and cause an evil name against her to be spread abroad, and say, This woman have I taken, and I came in unto her, and I did not find her a virgin;

¹⁵ then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate;

¹⁶ and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man as wife, and he hates her;

¹⁷ and behold, he charges her with things for scandalous talk, saying, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and here are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸ And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him;

¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath caused an evil name to be spread abroad against a virgin in Israel. And she shall remain his wife: he may not put her away all his days.

²⁰ But if this thing is true, [and] virginity hath not been found with the damsel;

²¹ then they shall bring out the damsel unto the entrance of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought infamy in Israel, committing fornication in her father's house; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²² If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

²³ If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,

²⁴ then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, [being] in the city, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²⁵ But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;

²⁶ and unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and murdereth him, so is this matter;

²⁷ for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was no one to save her.

²⁸ If a man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found,

²⁹ then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰ A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.

23 He that is a eunuch, whether he have been crushed or cut, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

² A bastard shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even his tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

³ An Ammonite or Moabite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even their tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah for ever;

⁴ because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

⁵ But Jehovah thy God would not listen to Balaam; and Jehovah thy God turned the curse into blessing unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee.

⁶ Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

⁷ Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a sojourner in his land.

⁸ Children that are born to them shall come into the congregation of Jehovah in the third generation.

⁹ When thou goest forth into camp against thine enemies, then keep thee from every evil thing.

¹⁰ If there be with thee a man that is not clean from what hath happened in the night, then shall he go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp;

¹¹ and it shall be, towards evening, he shall bathe in water: and at the going down of the sun he may come inside the camp.

¹² Thou shalt have a place also outside the camp, and shalt go forth thither.

¹³ And thou shalt have a shovel amongst thy weapons, and it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which is come from thee.

¹⁴ For Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; and thy camp shall be holy, that he see nothing unseemly with thee, and turn away from thee.

¹⁵ Thou shalt not hand over to his master a bondman that hath escaped from his master unto thee:

¹⁶ he shall dwell with thee, even in thy midst, in the place that he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it seemeth good to him; thou shalt not oppress him.

¹⁷ There shall be no prostitute amongst the daughters of Israel, nor any Sodomite amongst the sons of Israel.

¹⁸ Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God for any vow; for even both these are an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

¹⁹ Thou shalt take no interest of thy brother, interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that can be lent upon interest:

²⁰ of a foreigner thou mayest take interest, but of thy brother thou shalt not take interest; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the business of thy hand in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

²¹ When thou vowest a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not delay to perform it; for Jehovah thy God will certainly require it of thee, and it shall be sin in thee.

²² But if thou forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.

²³ What is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and do, as thou hast vowed to Jehovah thy God, the voluntary-offering that thou hast promised with thy mouth.

²⁴ When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayest eat grapes thy fill, according to thy desire, but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.

²⁵ When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, thou mayest pluck ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not wave the sickle against thy neighbour's standing corn.

24 When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, it shall be if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a letter of divorce, and give it into her hand, and send her out of his house.

² And she shall depart out of his house, and go away, and may become another man's wife.

³ And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a letter of divorce, and give it into her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die who took her as his wife;

⁴ her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for it is an abomination before Jehovah; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

⁵ When a man hath newly taken a wife, he shall not go out with the army, neither shall any kind of business be imposed upon him; he shall be free for his house one year, and shall gladden his wife whom he hath taken.

⁶ No man shall take the hand-mill or the upper millstone in pledge; for it would be taking life in pledge.

⁷ If a man be found who hath stolen one of his brethren of the children of Israel, and who hath treated him as a slave and sold him, that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

⁸ Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou take great heed, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them shall ye take heed to do.

⁹ Remember what Jehovah thy God did unto Miriam on the way, after that ye came forth out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When thou dost lend thy brother anything, thou shalt not go into his house to secure his pledge.

¹¹ Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou hast made a loan shall bring out the pledge to thee without.

¹² And if the man be needy, thou shalt not lie down with his pledge;

¹³ in any case thou shalt return him the pledge at the going down of the sun, that he may sleep in his own upper garment and bless thee; and it shall be righteousness unto thee before Jehovah thy God.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant [who is] poor and needy of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners who are in thy land within thy gates:

¹⁵ on his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and his soul yearneth after it; lest he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be a sin in thee.

¹⁶ The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, neither shall the sons be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷ Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, [or] of the fatherless; and thou shalt not take in pledge a widow's garment.

¹⁸ And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

¹⁹ When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and forgettest a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not return to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.

²⁰ When thou shakest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

²¹ When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterwards; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

²² And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

25 If there be a controversy between men, and they resort to judgment, and they judge [their case]; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

² And it shall be if the wicked man have deserved to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and be beaten before his face, according to the measure of his wickedness with a certain number [of stripes].

³ With forty [stripes] shall they beat him; they shall not exceed, lest, if they continue to beat him with many stripes above these, thy brother become despicable in thine eyes.

⁴ Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out [the corn].

⁵ If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry a stranger abroad: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.

⁶ And it shall be, that the firstborn that she beareth shall stand in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out from Israel.

⁷ But if the man like not to take his brother's wife, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel: he will not perform for me the duty of a husband's brother.

⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him; and if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her;

⁹ then shall his brother's wife come near to him before the eyes of the elders, and draw his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house.

¹⁰ And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe drawn off.

¹¹ When men fight together one with another, and the wife of the one come near to rescue her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and stretch out her hand, and seize him by his secret parts,

¹² thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare.

¹³ Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not have in thy house divers ephahs, a great and a small.

¹⁵ A perfect and just weight shalt thou have; a perfect and just ephah shalt thou have; that thy days may be prolonged in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

¹⁶ For every one that doeth such things, every one that doeth unrighteousness, is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

¹⁷ Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt;

¹⁸ how he met thee on the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all the feeble that lagged behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God.

¹⁹ And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall have given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; thou shalt not forget it.

26 And it shall be when thou comest into the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein,

² that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there;

³ and thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the land that Jehovah swore unto our fathers to give us.

⁴ And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God.

⁵ And thou shalt speak and say before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Aramean was my father, and he went down to Egypt with a few, and sojourned there, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

⁶ And the Egyptians evil-entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage;

⁷ and we cried to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression;

⁸ and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a powerful hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders;

⁹ and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey!

¹⁰ And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the land, which thou, Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God.

¹¹ And thou shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst.

¹² When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy produce in the third year, the year of tithing, thou shalt give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat in thy gates, and be filled;

¹³ and thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of the house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed nor forgotten [any] of thy commandments:

¹⁴ I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I brought away thereof in uncleanness, nor given thereof for a dead person; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

¹⁵ Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey!

¹⁶ This day Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and ordinances; and thou shalt keep and do them with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

¹⁷ Thou hast this day accepted Jehovah to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and to hearken unto his voice;

¹⁸ and Jehovah hath accepted thee this day to be a people of possession to him, as he hath told thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments,

¹⁹ so that he should make thee high above all the nations which he hath made, in praise and in name and in honour; and that thou shouldest be a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as he hath said.