Various Instructions

17 “You (A)shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any [a]blemish or defect, for that is an [b]abomination to the Lord your God.

(B)“If there is found among you, within any of your [c]gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, (C)in transgressing His covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either (D)the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, (E)which I have not commanded, (F)and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an [d]abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and (G)shall stone (H)to death that man or woman with stones. Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three (I)witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among (J)you.

(K)“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the (L)place which the Lord your God chooses. And (M)you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and (N)to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; (O)they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 Now (P)the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 (Q)And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

Principles Governing Kings

14 “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, (R)‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you (S)whom the Lord your God chooses; one (T)from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply (U)horses for himself, nor cause the people (V)to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for (W)the Lord has said to you, (X)‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and (Y)gold for himself.

18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one (Z)before the priests, the Levites. 19 And (AA)it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not [e]be lifted above his brethren, that he (AB)may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may [f]prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

18 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have [g]no part nor (AC)inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.

“And this shall be the priest’s (AD)due[h] from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. (AE)The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For (AF)the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes (AG)to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

“So if a Levite comes from any of your [i]gates, from where he (AH)dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind (AI)to the place which the Lord chooses, then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God (AJ)as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. They shall have equal (AK)portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, (AL)you shall not learn to follow the [j]abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter (AM)pass[k] through the fire, (AN)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 (AO)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or (AP)one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are [l]an abomination to the Lord, and (AQ)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be [m]blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not [n]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

15 (AR)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb (AS)in the day of the assembly, saying, (AT)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

17 “And the Lord said to me: (AU)‘What they have spoken is good. 18 (AV)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and (AW)will put My words in His mouth, (AX)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 (AY)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But (AZ)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or (BA)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 (BB)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, (BC)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it (BD)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Three Cities of Refuge(BE)

19 “When the Lord your God (BF)has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, (BG)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

“And (BH)this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor [o]unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; (BI)lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

“Now if the Lord your God (BJ)enlarges your territory, as He swore to (BK)your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, (BL)then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, 10 (BM)lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

11 “But (BN)if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 (BO)Your eye shall not pity him, (BP)but you shall [p]put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

14 (BQ)“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses

15 (BR)“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 If a false witness (BS)rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, (BT)before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 (BU)then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so (BV)you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 (BW)And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 (BX)Your eye shall not pity: (BY)life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Principles Governing Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see (BZ)horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be (CA)afraid of them; for the Lord your God is (CB)with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, (CC)to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not (CD)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. (CE)And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, (CF)‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, [q]lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

10 “When you go near a city to fight against it, (CG)then proclaim an offer of peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, (CH)you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, (CI)the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and (CJ)you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 “But (CK)of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 lest (CL)they teach you to do according to all their [r]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you (CM)sin against the Lord your God.

19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder

21 “If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a (CN)yoke. The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for (CO)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; (CP)by their word every controversy and every [s]assault shall be settled. And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man (CQ)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, (CR)and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. So (CS)you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Female Captives

10 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your (CT)wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall (CU)shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and (CV)mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have (CW)humbled her.

Firstborn Inheritance Rights

15 “If a man has two wives, one loved (CX)and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, 16 then it shall be, (CY)on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn (CZ)by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he (DA)is the beginning of his strength; (DB)the right of the firstborn is his.

The Rebellious Son

18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; (DC)so you shall put away the evil from among you, (DD)and all Israel shall hear and fear.

Miscellaneous Laws

22 “If a man has committed a sin (DE)deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 (DF)his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that (DG)you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for (DH)he who is hanged is accursed of God.

Various Laws of Morality

22 “You (DI)shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and [t]hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you [u]must not hide yourself.

(DJ)“You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again.

“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are [v]an abomination to the Lord your God.

“If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, (DK)you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, (DL)that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

“When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.

(DM)“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.

10 (DN)“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

11 (DO)“You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.

12 “You shall make (DP)tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.

Laws of Sexual Morality

13 “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and (DQ)detests her, 14 and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ 15 then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. 17 Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; 19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

20 “But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with (DR)stones, because she has (DS)done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. (DT)So you shall [w]put away the evil from among you.

22 (DU)“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is (DV)betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he (DW)humbled his neighbor’s wife; (DX)so you shall put away the evil from among you.

25 “But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

28 (DY)“If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father (DZ)fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife (EA)because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.

30 (EB)“A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor (EC)uncover his father’s bed.

Those Excluded from the Congregation

23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall (ED)not enter the assembly of the Lord.

“One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

(EE)“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, (EF)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and (EG)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [x]Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God (EH)loves you. (EI)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

“You shall not abhor an Edomite, (EJ)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because (EK)you were an alien in his land. The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Cleanliness of the Campsite

“When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10 (EL)If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. 11 But it shall be, when evening comes, that (EM)he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.

12 “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. 14 For the Lord your God (EN)walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

15 (EO)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it [y]seems best to him; (EP)you shall not oppress him.

17 “There shall be no ritual [z]harlot (EQ)of the daughters of Israel, or a (ER)perverted[aa] one of the sons of Israel. 18 You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are [ab]an abomination to the Lord your God.

19 (ES)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 20 (ET)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, (EU)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

21 (EV)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. 22 But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. 23 (EW)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

24 “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. 25 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, (EX)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Law Concerning Divorce

24 “When a (EY)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some [ac]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a (EZ)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, (FA)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is [ad]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

(FB)“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and (FC)bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

“No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes [ae]one’s living in pledge.

“If a man is (FD)found [af]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; (FE)and you shall put away the evil from among you.

“Take heed in (FF)an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. (FG)Remember what the Lord your God did (FH)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!

10 “When you (FI)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if the man is poor, you shall not [ag]keep his pledge overnight. 13 (FJ)You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and (FK)bless you; and (FL)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

14 “You shall not (FM)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. 15 Each day (FN)you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; (FO)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

16 (FP)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 (FQ)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, (FR)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. 18 But (FS)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

19 (FT)“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may (FU)bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

Laws of Social Responsibility

25 “If there is a (FV)dispute between men, and they come to [ah]court, that the judges may judge them, and they (FW)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man (FX)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down (FY)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. (FZ)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother (GA)be humiliated in your sight.

(GB)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it [ai]treads out the grain.

Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother

(GC)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears (GD)will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that (GE)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the (GF)gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, (GG)‘I do not want to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, (GH)remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not (GI)build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

Miscellaneous Laws

11 “If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; (GJ)your eye shall not pity her.

13 (GK)“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, (GL)that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For (GM)all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are [aj]an abomination to the Lord your God.

Destroy the Amalekites

17 (GN)“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he (GO)did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, (GP)when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will (GQ)blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 17:1 Lit. evil thing
  2. Deuteronomy 17:1 detestable thing
  3. Deuteronomy 17:2 towns
  4. Deuteronomy 17:4 detestable thing
  5. Deuteronomy 17:20 become proud
  6. Deuteronomy 17:20 continue long in his kingdom
  7. Deuteronomy 18:1 no portion
  8. Deuteronomy 18:3 right
  9. Deuteronomy 18:6 towns
  10. Deuteronomy 18:9 detestable acts
  11. Deuteronomy 18:10 Be burned as an offering to an idol
  12. Deuteronomy 18:12 detestable
  13. Deuteronomy 18:13 Lit. perfect
  14. Deuteronomy 18:14 allowed you to do so
  15. Deuteronomy 19:4 ignorantly, lit. without knowledge
  16. Deuteronomy 19:13 purge the blood of the innocent
  17. Deuteronomy 20:8 So with MT, Tg.; Sam., LXX, Syr., Vg. lest he make his brother’s heart faint
  18. Deuteronomy 20:18 detestable things
  19. Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit. stroke
  20. Deuteronomy 22:1 ignore them
  21. Deuteronomy 22:3 may not avoid responsibility
  22. Deuteronomy 22:5 detestable
  23. Deuteronomy 22:21 purge the evil person
  24. Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb. Aram Naharaim
  25. Deuteronomy 23:16 pleases him best
  26. Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qedeshah, fem. of qadesh (next note)
  27. Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qadesh, one practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
  28. Deuteronomy 23:18 detestable
  29. Deuteronomy 24:1 indecency, lit. nakedness of a thing
  30. Deuteronomy 24:4 a detestable thing
  31. Deuteronomy 24:6 life
  32. Deuteronomy 24:7 Lit. stealing
  33. Deuteronomy 24:12 Lit. sleep with his pledge
  34. Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit. the judgment
  35. Deuteronomy 25:4 threshes
  36. Deuteronomy 25:16 detestable

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