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17 “Do not give to the Lord your God a bull or a sheep which is not perfect. For that is a hated thing to the Lord your God.

“You may find among you, within any of your towns the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who does what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord your God by sinning against the Lord’s agreement. If he has served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon or the stars, which I have told him not to worship, and if someone told you about this, then you should do your best to find out if it is true. If it is true that this hated thing has been done in Israel, then bring that man or woman who has done this sinful act to your gates, and kill the man or woman with stones. If two or three people tell what they know against this person, he who is to die must be put to death. But he should not be put to death if only one person speaks against him. Those who speak against him should be first to put him to death. And then all the people should join them. You must get rid of all sin from among you.

“There may be a problem too hard for you to decide, between two kinds of killing, between two kinds of questions about the law, between two kinds of hurting, problems argued about in your courts. Then get up and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. Go to the Levite religious leader or the judge who is at work at that time. Ask them, and they will tell you what they decide. 10 Then do what should be done by what they tell you they have decided at that place which the Lord chooses. Be careful to do all they tell you. 11 Do what they teach you about the Law and about what they decide. Do not turn aside from what they tell you to do, to the right or to the left. 12 The man must die who does foolish things and will not listen to the judge or the religious leader who serves the Lord your God. You must get rid of sin from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid. They will not act in a foolish way again.

A King

14 “When you go into the land the Lord your God gives you, and own it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will have a king rule over me like all the nations around me,’ 15 then you will set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Set a king over you from among your brothers. Do not give a stranger power over you if he is not your brother. 16 He must not take many horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get many horses. Because the Lord has told you, ‘You must never again return that way.’ 17 He must not take many wives for himself or his heart may turn away. And he must not gather much silver and gold for himself.

18 “When he sits on the throne of his nation, he should write this Law for himself in a book in front of the Levite religious leaders. 19 It should be kept with him and he should read it all the days of his life. Then he will learn to fear the Lord his God, by being careful to obey all the words of these Laws. 20 And he will not think he is better than his brothers. He will not turn aside from the Law, to the right or to the left, so that he and his children may live long in his nation in Israel.

What the Religious Leaders and Levites Are to Receive

18 “The Levite religious leaders of the family group of Levi will have no share of the land given to Israel. They will live on the gifts given to the Lord by fire. They will have no share of the land among their brothers. The Lord is their share, as He promised them.

“When the people bring their gifts, a bull or a sheep, the religious leader is to be given the shoulder, the parts of the face, and the stomach. Give him the first of your grain, your wine, and your oil, and the first wool of your sheep. For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your families, to stand and serve in the name of the Lord forever.

“If a Levite comes whenever he desires from any of the towns in Israel to the place the Lord chooses, then he may work in the name of the Lord his God, like all his brother Levites who stand there before the Lord. They will all eat the same share of food, except what they receive from what is sold of their fathers’ lands.

Stay Away from What Is Sinful

“When you go into the land the Lord your God gives you, do not learn to follow the hated and sinful ways of those nations. 10 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or uses secret ways, or does witchcraft, or tells the meaning of special things, or is a witch, 11 or uses secret power on people, or helps people talk to spirits, or talks to spirits himself, or talks with the dead. 12 For the Lord hates whoever does these things. And because of these hated things, the Lord your God will drive them out from in front of you. 13 You must be without blame before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations that you are about to take listen to those who do witchcraft and use secret ways. But the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

A Man Who Speaks for God

15 “The Lord your God will give you a man who speaks for God like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 This is what you asked of the Lord your God at Sinai on the day of the meeting, when you said, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again. Do not let me see this fire any more, or I will die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will give them a man who speaks for God like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth. And he will make known to them all that I tell him. 19 He will speak in My name. And I will punish whoever will not listen to him. 20 But that man of God will die who is not careful and speaks in My name what I did not tell him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods.’ 21 You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know which words the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a man who speaks for God speaks in the name of the Lord, and what he says does not come true, that word is not from the Lord. The man has spoken on his own. Do not be afraid of him.

The Cities to Be a Safe Place

19 “The Lord your God will destroy the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you. You will take their place and live in their cities and in their houses. At that time you should set apart three cities for yourself in the land the Lord your God gives you for your own. Make the roads good that lead to these cities. Divide into three parts the land the Lord your God gives you for your own. Any man who kills another may run to a city and be safe.

“This is the law of the person who kills another and runs to a city to save his life. He might have killed his friend without meaning to, a friend he did not hate in the past. He could have gone among the trees with his friend to cut wood. As he was using his ax to cut down a tree, the ax head could have come off the stick and hit his friend, killing him. Then he may run to one of these cities and live. Or else the one who is angry will want to punish him for the killing, and will catch him and kill him. But the killer should not be put to death, because he had not hated the man in the past. So I tell you, ‘Set apart three cities for yourself.’ The Lord your God will give you even more land, as He has promised your fathers. He will give you all the land which He promised to give your fathers, if you are careful to obey all the Laws I tell you today. Love the Lord your God. Walk in His ways always. Then you will add three other cities to these three. 10 So the person without guilt will not be put to death in the land the Lord your God gives you as a gift. And you will not be guilty of blood.

11 “But there might be a man who hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, goes against him, and hurts him so that he dies. After this he might run to one of these cities. 12 Then the leaders of his city should send men to take him from there and bring him to the one who wants to punish him for the killing that he may die. 13 Do not pity him. In Israel be free from the blood of those that are not guilty. Then it will go well with you.

14 “Do not move your neighbor’s land-mark which the fathers of long ago have set in the land the Lord your God gives you for your own.

15 “One person will not prove the guilt of a sin another man may have done. It will take two or three people who know about the sin to prove the man’s guilt. 16 If an angry person speaks against a man, saying that he did something wrong, 17 then both men who are arguing should stand before the Lord, in front of the religious leaders and the judges who are at work at that time. 18 The judges will choose careful questions to ask about the problem. If the man lied who said his brother is guilty, 19 then you should do to him just what he wanted to do to his brother. In this way you will get rid of the sin among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear and be afraid. They will never do such a sinful thing among you again. 21 Do not pity him. It will be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.