Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!

I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin.

But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”

“Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other),

You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people.

that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known),

you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.

for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.

However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Freeing Servants

If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.

Judges

Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.

The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.

All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”

This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.

the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.

The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.

When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.