“Whenever you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering loose, be sure to take it back to him.

but in the seventh year you must leave the land unplowed and unused. In that way the poor among your people will have food to eat, and wild animals may eat what the poor people leave. You must do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.

“For six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must not work. Then your ox and donkey can rest. The slaves born in your household and foreigners will also be refreshed.

I will not force them out of your way in one year. Otherwise, the land would be deserted, and wild animals would take over.

Moses replied, “It’s not the sound of winners shouting. It’s not the sound of losers crying. It’s the sound of a wild celebration that I hear.”

“If you touch anything unclean —the unclean dead body of a wild or tame animal or the body of an unclean, swarming creature—and then ignore what you did, you are unclean and will be guilty.

The fat from an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals you may use for any other purpose, but you must never eat it.

He must never eat the meat of an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord.

your animals and the wild animals in your land. Everything the land produces will be yours to eat.

I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted.

They brought these gifts to the Lord: six freight wagons and twelve oxen, one wagon from every two leaders and one ox from each leader. They brought them in front of the tent.

Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.

He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites for the work they had to do.

He gave four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites for the work they had to do under the direction of Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron.

“But you must never buy back a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat. They are holy. Throw the blood from these animals against the altar, and burn the fat as an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord.

So the Moabites said to the leaders of Midian, “All those people will eventually eat up everything around us the same way an ox eats up the grass in a field.” At that time Balak, son of Zippor, was king of Moab.

The God who brought them out of Egypt has the strength of a wild bull.

The God who brought them out of Egypt has the strength of a wild bull. He will devour nations that are his enemies, crush their bones, and pierce them with arrows.

The seventh day is the day of rest—a holy day dedicated to the Lord your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your oxen, your donkeys—all of your animals—even the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⌞on that day⌟. In this way your male and female slaves can rest as you do.

“Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife away from him. “Never long for your neighbor’s household, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.”

Little by little he will force these nations out of your way. You won’t be able to wipe them out quickly. Otherwise, you would be overrun with wild animals.

Here are the ⌞kinds of⌟ animals you may eat: oxen, sheep, goats,

deer, gazelles, fallow deer, wild goats, mountain goats, antelope, and mountain sheep.

Setting Aside Firstborn Males for God

You must dedicate every firstborn male from your herds and flocks to the Lord your God. Never use a firstborn ox for work, and never shear a firstborn sheep.

Never offer an ox or a sheep that has a defect or anything seriously wrong with it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. That would be disgusting to him.