New King James Version (NKJV)

Israel’s Rebellions Reviewed

1 “Hear, O Israel: Youareto cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

2 a people great and tall, thedescendants of the Anakim, whom you know, andofwhomyou hearditsaid,‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’

3 Therefore understand today that theLordyour GodisHe whogoes over before youasaconsuming fire.He will destroy them and bring them down before you;so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as theLordhas said to you.

4 “Do not think in your heart, after theLordyour God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness theLordhas brought me in to possess this land’; butitisbecause of the wickedness of these nationsthattheLordis driving them out from before you.

5 Itisnot because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heartthatyou go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nationsthattheLordyour God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill theword which theLordswore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Therefore understand that theLordyour God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for youareastiff-necked people.

7 “Remember! Do not forget how youprovoked theLordyour God to wrath in the wilderness.From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against theLord.

8 Alsoin Horeb you provoked theLordto wrath, so that theLordwas angryenoughwith you to have destroyed you.

9 When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which theLordmade with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days andforty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

10 Then theLorddelivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on themwereall the words which theLordhad spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the firein the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights,thattheLordgave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 “Then theLordsaid to me,‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly; they havequickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image.’

13 “FurthermoretheLordspoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeedthey are a stiff-necked people.

14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them andblot out their name from under heaven;and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, andthe mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenantwerein my two hands.

16 AndI looked, and behold, you had sinned against theLordyour God—had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which theLordhad commanded you.

17 Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands andbroke them before your eyes.

18 And Ifell down before theLord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of theLord, to provoke Him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which theLordwas angry with you, to destroy you.But theLordlistened to me at that time also.

20 And theLordwas very angry with Aaronandwould have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

21 Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed itandgrounditvery small, until it was as fine as dust; and Ithrew its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.

22 “Also atTaberah andMassah andKibroth Hattaavah you provoked theLordto wrath.

23 Likewise,when theLordsent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of theLordyour God, andyou did not believe Him nor obey His voice.

24 You have been rebellious against theLordfrom the day that I knew you.

25 “Thus I prostrated myself before theLord; forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because theLordhad said He would destroy you.

26 Therefore I prayed to theLord, and said: ‘O LordGod, do not destroy Your people andYour inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin,

28 lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because theLordwas not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”

29 Yet theyareYour people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’

The Second Pair of Tablets

1 “At that time theLordsaid to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself anark of wood.

2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; andyou shall put them in the ark.’

3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand.

4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments,which theLordhad spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and theLordgave them to me.

5 Then I turned andcame down from the mountain, andput the tablets in the ark which I had made;and there they are, just as theLordcommanded me.”

6 (Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah, where Aarondied, and where he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his stead.

7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of water.

8 At that timetheLordseparated the tribe of Levito bear the ark of the covenant of theLord,to stand before theLordto minister to Him andto bless in His name, to this day.

9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; theLordishis inheritance, just as theLordyour God promised him.)

10 “As at the first time,I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights;theLordalso heard me at that time,andtheLordchose not to destroy you.

11 Then theLordsaid to me, ‘Arise, beginyourjourney before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

The Essence of the Law

12 “And now, Israel,what does theLordyour God require of you, but to fear theLordyour God, to walk in all His ways and tolove Him, to serve theLordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul,

13 andto keep the commandments of theLordand His statutes which I command you todayfor your good?

14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to theLordyour God,alsothe earth with all thatisin it.

15 TheLorddelighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, asitisthis day.

16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of yourheart, and bestiff-necked no longer.

17 For theLordyour GodisGod of gods andLord of lords, the great God,mighty and awesome, whoshows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.

19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20 You shall fear theLordyour God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.

21 Heisyour praise, and Heisyour God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.

22 Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now theLordyour God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.

Love and Obedience Rewarded

1 “Therefore you shall love theLordyour God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.

2 Know today thatIdonotspeakwith your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of theLordyour God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm—

3 His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land;

4 what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots:how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, andhowtheLordhas destroyed them to this day;

5 what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance thatwasin their possession, in the midst of all Israel—

7 but your eyes haveseen every great act of theLordwhich He did.

8 “Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you maybe strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess,

9 andthat you may prolongyourdays in the landwhich theLordswore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants,‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

10 For the land which you go to possessisnot like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watereditby foot, as a vegetable garden;

11 but the land which you cross over to possessisa land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,

12 a land for which theLordyour God cares;the eyes of theLordyour Godarealways on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.

13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love theLordyour God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 thenI will giveyouthe rain for your land in its season,the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you mayeat and be filled.’

16 “Take heed to yourselves,lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside andserve other gods and worship them,

17 lesttheLord’s anger be aroused against you, and Heshut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, andyou perish quickly from the good land which theLordis giving you.

18 “Thereforeyou shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in yoursoul, andbind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 thatyour days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which theLordswore to your fathers to give them, likethe days of the heavens above the earth.

22 “For ifyou carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love theLordyour God, to walk in all His ways, andto hold fast to Him—

23 then theLordwilldrive out all these nations from before you, and you willdispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves.

24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours:from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.

25 No man shall be able tostand against you; theLordyour God will put thedread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.

26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:

27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of theLordyour God which I command you today;

28 and thecurse, if you do not obey the commandments of theLordyour 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 theLordyour God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put theblessing on Mount Gerizim and thecurse on Mount Ebal.

30 Arethey 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,beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?

31 For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which theLordyour 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

1 “Thesearethe statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which theLordGod of your fathers is giving you to possess,all the days that you live on the earth.

2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods,on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

3 Andyou shall destroy their altars, break theirsacredpillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.

4 You shall notworship theLordyour Godwithsuchthings.

5 “But you shall seek theplace where theLordyour God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for Hisdwelling place; and there you shall go.

6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and thefirstborn of your herds and flocks.

7 Andthere you shall eat before theLordyour God, andyou shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which theLordyour God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whateverisright in his own eyes—

9 for as yet you have not come to therest and the inheritance which theLordyour God is giving you.

10 Butwhenyou cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which theLordyour God is giving you to inherit, and He gives yourest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety,

11 then there will be the place where theLordyour 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 theLord.

12 Andyou shall rejoice before theLordyour God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and theLevite whoiswithin 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 theLordchooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

15 “However,you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of theLordyour God which He has given you;the unclean and the clean may eat of it,of the gazelle and the deer alike.

16 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 heave offering of your hand.

18 But you must eat them before theLordyour God in the place which theLordyour God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite whoiswithin your gates; and you shall rejoice before theLordyour God in all to which you put your hands.

19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 “When theLordyour Godenlarges 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 theLordyour God chooses to put His name is too far fromyou, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which theLordhas 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,for the bloodisthe 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,that it may go well with you and your children after you,when you dowhatisright in the sight of theLord.

26 Only theholy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which theLordchooses.

27 Andyou shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of theLordyour God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of theLordyour God, and you shall eat the meat.

28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you,that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you dowhatisgood and right in the sight of theLordyour God.

Beware of False Gods

29 “WhentheLordyour 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 You shall not worship theLordyour God in that way; for every abomination to theLordwhich He hates they have done to their gods; forthey burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

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

Punishment of Apostates

1 “If there arises among you a prophet or adreamer of dreams,and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

2 andthe 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 theLordyour Godis testing you to know whether you love theLordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 You shallwalk after theLordyour God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him andhold fast to Him.

5 Butthat prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turnyouaway from theLordyour 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 theLordyour God commanded you to walk.So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter,the wife of your bosom, or your friendwho 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 whichareall around you, near to you or far off from you, fromoneend of the earth to theotherend of the earth,

8 you shallnot 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 todeath, 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 theLordyour God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

11 So all Israel shall hear andfear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

12 “If you hear someone in one of your cities, which theLordyour God gives you to dwell in, saying,

13 ‘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. Andifitisindeed trueandcertainthatsuch an 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 completelyburn with fire the city and all its plunder, for theLordyour God. It shall bea heap forever; it shall not be built again.

17 So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that theLordmayturn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers,

18 because you have listened to the voice of theLordyour God,to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to dowhatisright in the eyes of theLordyour God.

Improper Mourning

1 “Youarethe children of theLordyour God;you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead.

2 For youarea holy people to theLordyour God, and theLordhas chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples whoareon the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Meat

3 “You shall not eat any detestable thing.

4 Thesearethe animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the 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,andthatchews the cud, among the animals.

7 Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat,suchasthese: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; theyareunclean for you.

8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yetdoesnotchewthe cud; you shall not eat their fleshor touch their dead carcasses.

9 “These you may eat of all thatarein the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales.

10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; itisunclean for you.

11 “All clean birds you may eat.

12 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 “Alsoevery creeping thing that flies is unclean for you;they shall not be eaten.

20 “You may eat all clean birds.

21 “You shall not eat anything that diesofitself;you may give it to the alien whoiswithin your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner;for youarea holy people to theLordyour God.

# “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithing Principles

22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.

23 And you shall eat before theLordyour God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, ofthe firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear theLordyour God always.

24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carrythetithe, orif the place where theLordyour God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when theLordyour God has blessed you,

25 then you shall exchangeitfor money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which theLordyour 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 theLordyour God, and you shallrejoice, you and your household.

27 You shall not forsake theLevite whoiswithin your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

28 “At the end ofeverythird year you shall bring out thetithe of your produce of that year and storeitup 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 whoarewithin your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that theLordyour God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years

1 “At the end ofeveryseven years you shall grant a releaseofdebts.

2 And thisisthe form of the release: Every creditor who has lentanythingto his neighbor shall releaseit;he shall not requireitof his neighbor or his brother, because it is called theLord’s release.

3 Of a foreigner you may requireit;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 theLordwill greatlybless you in the land which theLordyour God is giving you to possessasan inheritance—

5 only if you carefully obey the voice of theLordyour God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today.

6 For theLordyour God will bless you just as He promised you;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 gates in your land which theLordyour God is giving you,you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,

8 butyou shall 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 youreye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, andhe cry out to theLordagainst you, andit become sin among you.

10 You shall surely give to him, andyour heart should not be grieved when you give to him, becausefor this thing theLordyour God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.

11 Forthe poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, issold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

13 And when you 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.FromwhattheLordyour God hasblessed you with, you shall give to him.

15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and theLordyour God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.

16 And 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 thrustitthrough 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 wortha double hired servant in serving you six years. Then theLordyour God will bless you in all that you do.

The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals

19 “All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to theLordyour God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 You and your household shall eatitbefore theLordyour God year by year in the place which theLordchooses.

21 But if there is a defect in it,ifitislame or blindorhasany serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to theLordyour God.

22 You may eat it within your gates;the unclean and the cleanpersonalikemayeatit,asifitwerea gazelle or a deer.

23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.

The Passover Reviewed

1 “Observe themonth of Abib, and keep the Passover to theLordyour God, forin the month of Abib theLordyour God brought you out of Egypt by night.

2 Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to theLordyour God, from the flock andthe herd, in theplace where theLordchooses to put His name.

3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it;seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it,thatis,the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you mayremember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

4 And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shallanyof the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight untilmorning.

5 “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which theLordyour God gives you;

6 but at the place where theLordyour God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passoverat twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.

7 And you shall roast and eatitin the place which theLordyour God chooses, andin the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, andon the seventh day thereshallbea sacred assembly to theLordyour God. You shall do no workonit.

The Feast of Weeks Reviewed

9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks fromthetimeyou begintoputthe sickle to the grain.

10 Then you shall keep theFeast of Weeks to theLordyour God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall giveas theLordyour God blesses you.

11 You shall rejoice before theLordyour God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite whoiswithin your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow whoareamong you, at the place where theLordyour God chooses to make His name abide.

12 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

13 “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress.

14 Andyou 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, whoarewithin your gates.

15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to theLordyour God in the place which theLordchooses, because theLordyour God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before theLordyour God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; andthey shall not appear before theLordempty-handed.

17 Every manshallgiveas he is able,according to the blessing of theLordyour God which He has given you.

Justice Must Be Administered

18 “You shall appointjudges and officers in all your gates, which theLordyour God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

19 You shall not pervert justice;you shall not show partiality,nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

20 You shall follow what is altogether just, that you maylive and inherit the land which theLordyour God is giving you.

21 “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to theLordyour God.

22 You shall not set up asacredpillar, which theLordyour God hates.

1 “Youshall not sacrifice to theLordyour God a bull or sheep which has any blemishordefect, for thatisan abomination to theLordyour God.

2 “If there is found among you, within any of your gates which theLordyour God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of theLordyour God,in transgressing His covenant,

3 who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, eitherthe sun or moon or any of the host of heaven,which I have not commanded,

4 and it is told you, and you hearofit,then you shall inquire diligently. And ifitisindeed trueandcertain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel,

5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, andshall stoneto death that man or woman with stones.

6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or threewitnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

7 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 amongyou.

8 “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 theplace which theLordyour God chooses.

9 Andyou shall come to the priests, the Levites, andto the judgetherein those days, and inquireofthem;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 theLordchooses. 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 asidetothe right hand ortothe left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you.

12 Nowthe man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before theLordyour God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.

13 And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

Principles Governing Kings

14 “When you come to the land which theLordyour God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say,‘I will set a king over me like all the nations thatarearound me,’

15 you shall surely set a king over youwhom theLordyour God chooses;onefrom among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, whoisnot your brother.

16 But he shall not multiplyhorses for himself, nor cause the peopleto return to Egypt to multiply horses, fortheLordhas said to you,‘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 andgold 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, fromtheonebefore the priests, the Levites.

19 Andit shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear theLordhis God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,

20 that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that hemay not turn aside from the commandmenttothe right hand ortothe left, and that he may prolonghisdays in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

1 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part norinheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of theLordmade by fire, and His portion.

2 Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; theLordis their inheritance, as He said to them.

3 “And this shall be the priest’sdue from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whetheritisbull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach.

4 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.

5 FortheLordyour God has chosen him out of all your tribesto stand to minister in the name of theLord, him and his sons forever.

6 “So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where hedwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mindto the place which theLordchooses,

7 then he may serve in the name of theLordhis Godas all his brethren the Levitesdo,who stand there before theLord.

8 They shall have equalportions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

9 “When you come into the land which theLordyour God is giving you,you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among youanyonewho makes his son or his daughterpass through the fire,oronewho practices witchcraft,ora soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

11 orone who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

12 For all who do these thingsarean abomination to theLord, andbecause of these abominations theLordyour God drives them out from before you.

13 You shall be blameless before theLordyour God.

14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, theLordyour God has not appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

15 “TheLordyour 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 theLordyour God in Horebin the day of the assembly, saying,‘Let me not hear again the voice of theLordmy God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

17 “And theLordsaid to me:‘What they have spoken is good.

18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, andwill put My words in His mouth,and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

19 And it shall bethatwhoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will requireitof him.

20 Butthe prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, orwho 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 theLordhas not spoken?’—

22 when a prophet speaks in the name of theLord,if the thing does not happen or come to pass, thatisthe thing which theLordhas not spoken; the prophet has spoken itpresumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.