Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17

New King James Version

^26 (A)“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (B)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; ²⁸ and the ^(C)curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. ²⁹ Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the ^(D)blessing on Mount Gerizim and the ^(E)curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, ^(F)beside the terebinth trees of Moreh? ³¹ For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it. ³² And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

A Prescribed Place of Worship

12 “These ^(G)are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, ^(H)all^[a] the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (I)You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(J)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ And ^(K)you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ^[b]wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not ^(L)worship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵ “But you shall seek the ^(M)place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^(N)dwelling^[c] place; and there you shall go. ^6 (O)There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(P)firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ And ^(Q)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(R)you shall rejoice in ^[d]all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—^(S)every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹ for as yet you have not come to the ^(T)rest^[e] and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you ^(U)rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, ¹¹ then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(V)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^(W)Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³ Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; ¹⁴ but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵ “However, ^(X)you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; ^(Y)the unclean and the clean may eat of it, ^(Z)of the gazelle and the deer alike. ^16 (AA)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the ^[f]heave offering of your hand. ¹⁸ But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in ^[g]all to which you put your hands. ^19 [h]Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(AB)enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. ²¹ If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from ^(AC)you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. ²² Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. ²³ Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(AD)for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(AE)that it may go well with you and your children after you, ^(AF)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ Only the ^(AG)holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. ²⁷ And ^(AH)you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat. ²⁸ Observe and obey all these words which I command you, ^(AI)that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Beware of False Gods

²⁹ “When ^(AJ)the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, ³⁰ take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ ^31 (AK)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every ^[i]abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for ^(AL)they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

³² “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; ^(AM)you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Punishment of Apostates

13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a ^(AN)dreamer of dreams, ^(AO)and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and ^(AP)the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God ^(AQ)is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall ^(AR)walk^[j] after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and ^(AS)hold fast to Him. ⁵ But ^(AT)that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^(AU)So you shall ^[k]put away the evil from your midst.

^6 (AV)“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, ^(AW)the wife ^[l]of your bosom, or your friend ^(AX)who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, ⁷ of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, ⁸ you shall ^(AY)not ^[m]consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; ⁹ but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to ^(AZ)death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹¹ So all Israel shall hear and ^(BA)fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

^12 (BB)“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ^13 [n]‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known— ¹⁴ then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[o]abomination was committed among you, ¹⁵ you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and ^[p]completely ^(BC)burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^(BD)a ^[q]heap forever; it shall not be built again. ^17 (BE)So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^(BF)turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ^[r]multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^(BG)to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Improper Mourning

14 “You are ^(BH)the children of the Lord your God; ^(BI)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[s]shave the front of your head for the dead. ^2 (BJ)For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Meat^(BK)

^3 (BL)“You shall not eat any ^[t]detestable thing. ^4 (BM)These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ^[u]mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals. ⁷ Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. ⁸ Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh ^(BN)or touch their dead carcasses.

^9 (BO)“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. ¹⁰ And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “All clean birds you may eat. ^12 (BP)But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, ¹³ the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; ¹⁴ every raven after its kind; ¹⁵ the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds; ¹⁶ the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, ¹⁸ the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹ “Also ^(BQ)every ^[v]creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; ^(BR)they shall not be eaten.

²⁰ “You may eat all clean birds.

^21 (BS)“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; ^(BT)for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.

“^(BU)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithing Principles

^22 (BV)“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. ^23 (BW)And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of ^(BX)the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴ But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or ^(BY)if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, ²⁵ then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶ And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall ^(BZ)rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷ You shall not ^[w]forsake the ^(CA)Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

^28 (CB)“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the ^(CC)tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. ²⁹ And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years^(CD)

15 “At the end of ^(CE)every seven years you shall grant a ^[x]release of debts. ² And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall ^[y]release it; he shall not ^[z]require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. ³ Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, ⁴ except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly ^(CF)bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— ⁵ only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. ⁶ For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; ^(CG)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Generosity to the Poor

⁷ “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the ^[aa]gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(CH)you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, ⁸ but ^(CI)you shall ^[ab]open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. ⁹ Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your ^(CJ)eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and ^(CK)he cry out to the Lord against you, and ^(CL)it become sin among you. ¹⁰ You shall surely give to him, and ^(CM)your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(CN)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ¹¹ For ^(CO)the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall ^[ac]open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12 (CP)“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^(CQ)sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you ^[ad]send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴ you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has ^(CR)blessed you with, you shall give to him. ^15 (CS)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. ¹⁶ And ^(CT)if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth ^(CU)a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals

^19 (CV)“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall ^[ae]sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. ^20 (CW)You and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. ^21 (CX)But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² You may eat it within your gates; ^(CY)the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. ²³ Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.

The Passover Reviewed^(CZ)

16 “Observe the ^(DA)month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for ^(DB)in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ² Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and ^(DC)the herd, in the ^(DD)place where the Lord chooses to put His name. ³ You shall eat no leavened bread with it; ^(DE)seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may ^(DF)remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. ^4 (DG)And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until ^(DH)morning.

⁵ “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you; ⁶ but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover ^(DI)at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. ⁷ And you shall roast and eat it ^(DJ)in the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. ⁸ Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and ^(DK)on the seventh day there shall be a ^[af]sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

The Feast of Weeks Reviewed^(DL)

⁹ “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. ¹⁰ Then you shall keep the ^(DM)Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give ^(DN)as the Lord your God blesses you. ^11 (DO)You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. ^12 (DP)And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed^(DQ)

^13 (DR)“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. ¹⁴ And ^(DS)you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your ^[ag]gates. ^15 (DT)Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

^16 (DU)“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and ^(DV)they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Every man shall give as he is able, ^(DW)according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.