Amplified Bible (AMP)

Israel Provoked God

1 “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and more powerful than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

2 a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heardit said,‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

3 So know today [with confident assurance] that the Lordyour God is crossing [the Jordan] before you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, and you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lordhas promised you.

4 “Do not say in your heart when the Lordyour God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lordhas brought me in to possess this land,’ but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lordis dispossessing them before you.

5 It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lordyour God is driving them out before you, and to confirm the oath which the Lordswore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 “Know [without any doubt], that the Lordyour God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

7 Remember [with remorse] and do not forget how you provoked the Lordyour God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you left the land of Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

8 And at Horeb (Sinai) you provoked the Lordto wrath, and the Lordwas so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lordmade with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water.

10 The Lordgave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on themwere writtenall the words which the Lordhad spoken to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

11 It came about at the end of forty days and forty nights that the Lordgave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 Then the Lordsaid to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made (cast) a molten image for themselves.’

13 Furthermore, the Lordsaid to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

14 ~‘Let Me alone, so that I may destroy them and wipe 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 while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lordyour God. You had made for yourselves a moltencalf (idol). You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lordhad commanded you.

17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands and smashed them before your very eyes!

18 Then, as before, I fell down before the Lordfor [another] forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water, because of all the sin you had committed by doingwhat was evil in the sight of the Lordto provoke Him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger andabsolute fury which the Lordheld against you, [enough divine fury] to destroy you, but the Lordlistened to me that time also.

20 The Lordwas very angry with Aaron, angry [enough] to destroy him, so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

21 I took your sinfulthing,the calf which you had made, and burned it in the fire and thoroughly crushed it, grinding the metal thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

22 “At Taberah also and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lordto wrath.

23 And when the Lordsent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of the Lordyour God, and you did not believeandrely on Him, nor did you obey His voice.

24 You have been rebellious against the Lordfrom the [first] day that I knew you.

25 “So I fell downandlay face down before the Lordforty days and nights because the Lordhad said He would destroy you.

26 Then I prayed to the Lordand said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought from Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 ~‘Remember [with compassion] Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or at their sin,

28 so that the [people of the] land from which You brought us will not say, “Because the Lordwas not capable of bringing them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to the wilderness [in order] to kill them.”

29 ~‘Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.’

The Tablets Rewritten

1 “At that time the Lordsaid to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark (chest) of wood for yourself.

2 ~‘I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’

3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountainwith the two tablets in my hand.

4 The Lordwrote on the tablets, like the first writing, the TenCommandments which the Lordhad spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; then the Lordgave them to me.

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

6 (Now the sons of Israel traveled from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and there he was buried and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place.

7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.

8 At that time the Lordset apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lordto serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

9 Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance [of tribal land] with his brothers;the Lordis his inheritance, as the Lordyour Godhas promised him.)

10 “And I stayed on the mountain, like the first time, forty days and nights, and the Lordlistened to me at that time also; the Lordwas not willing to destroy you.

11 Then the Lordsaid to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey ahead of the people, so that they may go in and take possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.’

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lordyour God require from you, but to fear [and worship] the Lordyour God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve the Lordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being],

13 andto keep the commandments of the Lordand His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

14 Behold, the heavens and the highest of heavens belong to the Lordyour God, the earth and all that is in it.

15 Yet the Lordhad a delight in loving your fathersandset His affection on them, and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.

16 So circumcise [that is, remove sin from] your heart, and be stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) no longer.

17 For the LordyourGod is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the awesome God who does not showpartiality nor take a bribe.

18 Heexecutes justice for the orphan and the widow, andshows His love for the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) by giving him food and clothing.

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

20 You shall fear [and worship] the Lordyour God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect]; you shall serve Him and cling to Him [hold tightly to Him, be united with Him], and you shall swear [oaths] by His name.

21 He is your praiseandglory; He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which you have seen with your own eyes.

22 Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy persons [in all], and now the Lordyour God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Rewards of Obedience

1 “Therefore you shall love the Lordyour God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His precepts, and His commandments [it is your obligation to Him].

2 Know this day that I am notspeakingto your children who have not known [by personal experience] and who have not seen [firsthand] the instructionanddiscipline of the Lordyour God–His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm;

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

4 and what He did to the army of Egypt, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of theRed Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how the Lordcompletely destroyed them;

5 and what He did to 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, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing thatfollowed them, in the midst of all Israel.

7 For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lordwhich He did.

8 “Therefore, you shall keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land which you are crossing over [the Jordan] to possess;

9 so that you may live long on the land which the Lordswore (solemnly promised) to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land [of great abundance,]flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and wateredit with your foot like a garden of vegetables.

11 But the land into which you are about to cross to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

12 a land for which the Lordyour God cares; the eyes of the Lordyour God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 “It shall come about, if you listen obedientlyandpay attention to My commandments which I command you today–to love the Lordyour God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being]–

14 thatHe will give the rain for your land in its season, the early [fall] rain and the late [spring] rain, so that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your [olive] oil.

15 AndHe will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

16 Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away [from the Lord] and serve other gods and worship them,

17 or [else] the Lord’sanger will be kindledandburn against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lordis giving you.

18 “Therefore, you shall impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be asbands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead.

19 You shall teach them [diligently] to yourchildren [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

20 You shall write them on thedoorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lordswore to your fathers to give them, aslong as the heavens are above the earth.

22 For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lordyour God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to hold tightly to Him–

23 then the Lordwill drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall become yours; your territory shall be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea (the Mediterranean).

25 No man will be able to stand before you; the Lordyour God will lay the fear and the dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.

26 “Behold, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse–

27 the blessing, if you listen toandobey the commandments of the Lordyour God, which I am commanding you today;

28 and the curse, if you do not listen toandobey the commandments of the Lordyour God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following (acknowledging, worshiping) other gods which you have not known.

29 “It shall come about, when the Lordyour God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lordyour God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,

32 and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

Laws of the Sanctuary

1 “These are the statutes and judgments (precepts) which you shall be careful to do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green [leafy] tree.

3 You shall tear down their altars and smash their [idolatrous] pillars and burn theirAsherim in the fire; you shall cut down the carvedandsculpted images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

4 You shall not act like this toward the Lordyour God.

5 But you shall seekthe Lordat the place which the Lordyour God will choose out of all your tribes to establish HisName there for His dwelling [place], and there you shall come [to worship Him].

6 There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, your freewill (voluntary) offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

7 And there you and your households shall eat before the Lordyour God, and rejoice in all to which you put your hand, in which the Lordyour God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here [in the camp] today, every man doing whatever is right in his [own] eyes.

9 For you have not yet come to the resting place and to the inheritance which the Lordyour God is giving you.

10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lordyour God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

11 then it shall come about that the place which the Lordyour God will choose for His Name [and Presence] to dwell; there you shall bring everything that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and the [voluntary] contribution of your hand [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choice votive offerings which you vow to the Lord.

12 And you shall rejoice before the Lordyour God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13 “Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every [cultic] place you see,

14 but [only] in the place which the Lordwill choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I am commanding you.

15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your [city] gates, whatever you wish, according to the blessing of the Lordyour God which He has given you [as His generous provision for daily life]. The [ceremonially] unclean and the clean may eat it, such as the gazelle and the deer.

16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

17 You are forbidden to eat within your [city] gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand.

18 But you shall eat them before the Lordyour God in the place which the Lordyour God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lordyour God in allthat you undertake.

19 Be careful that you do not neglect the Levite [who serves God]as long as you live in your land.

20 “When the Lordyour God extends your territory, as He promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, whateveryou wish.

21 If the place which the Lordyour God chooses to put His Name (Presence) is too far away from you, then you may slaughter [animals] from your herd or flock which the Lordhas given you, just as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your [city] gates whatever you wish.

22 Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat it [but not make it an offering]; the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean alike may eat it.

23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life (soul), and you shall not eat the life with the meat.

24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

25 You shall not eat it, so that all may be well with you and with your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

26 However, you shall take your holy things which you have [to offer] and your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, you shall takethemand go to the place which the Lordwill choose.

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

28 “Be careful to listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that it may be well with you and with yourchildren after you forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lordyour God.

29 “When the Lordyour God cuts offanddestroys before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and settle in their land,

30 beware that you are not lured (ensnared) into following them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, so that I too may do likewise?’

31 You shall not behave this way toward the Lordyour God, for they have done for their gods every repulsive thing which the Lordhates; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [as sacrifices] to their gods.

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

Shun Idolatry

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

2 and the sign or the wonder which he spoke (foretold) to you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us follow after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serveandworship them,’

3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lordyour God is testing you to know whether you love the Lordyour God with all your heartandmind and all your soul [your entire being].

4 You shall walk after the Lordyour God and you shall fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and you shall keep His commandments and you shall listen to His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him.

5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lordyour God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to draw you away from the way in which the Lordyour God has commanded you to walk. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, orthe wife you cherish, or your friend who is as [precious to you as] your own life (soul), entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (godswhom neither you nor your fathers have known,

7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other),

8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him.

9 Instead, you shall most certainly execute him; your hand shall be first [to be raised] against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

10 So you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from the Lordyour God who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

12 “If you hear [it said] in one of your cities, which the Lordyour God gives you to live in,

13 that some worthlessandevil men have gone out from among you and have tempted the inhabitants of their city [to sin], saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known),

14 then you shall investigate and search out [witnesses] and ask thoroughquestions. If it is true and the matter is established that this loathsome thing has been done among you,

15 you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it, even its livestock with the edge of the sword.

16 Then you shall collect all its spoil (plunder) into the middle of its open square and burn the city and set fire to the spoil as a whole burnt offering to the Lordyour God. It shall be a ruin forever. It shall not be built again.

17 Nothing from that which is put under the ban (designated for destruction) shall cling to your hand, so that the Lordmay turn away from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He swore to your fathers,

18 because you have listened toandobeyed the voice of the Lordyour God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the eyes of the Lordyour God.

Clean and Unclean Animals

1 “You are the sons of the Lordyour God;you shall not cut yourselves norshave your forehead for the sake of the dead,

2 for you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lordyour God; and the Lordhas chosen you out of all the peoples who are on the earth to be a people for His own possession.

3 “You shall not eat anything that is detestable [to the Lordand forbidden by Him].

4 These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

6 Among the animals, you may eat any animal that has the divided hoof [that is, a hoof] split into two parts [especially at its distal extremity] and that chews the cud.

7 However, you are not to eat any of these [animals] among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel, the hare and theshaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not split the hoof; they are unclean for you.

8 The swine, because it has a divided hoof butdoesnotchewthe cud; it is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat nor touch their carcasses.

9 “Of all [creatures] that are in the waters, you may eat these: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

10 but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat any clean bird.

12 But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, and the black buzzard,

13 and the red kite, the falcon, and the birds of preyof any variety,

14 and every raven of any variety,

15 and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk of any variety,

16 the little owl, the great owl, the long-eared owl,

17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

18 the stork, and the heron of any variety, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 And all flying insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

20 You may eat any clean bird.

21 “You shall not eat anything that dieson its own. You may give it to the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) who is in your [city] gates, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner [since they are not under God’s law], but you are a people holy (set apart) to the Lordyour God. You shall notboil a young goatora lamb in its mother’s milk.

22 “Every year you shall certainly tithe [a tenth] of all the yield of your seed which is produced by your field.

23 You shall eat the tithe (tenth) of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock before the Lordyour God in the place where He chooses to establish His Name (Presence), so that you may learn to fear [and worship] the Lordyour God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] always.

24 If the place where the Lordyour God chooses to set His Name (Presence) is a great distance from you and you are not able to carryyour tithe,because the Lordyour God has blessed you [with such an abundance],

25 then you shall exchangeyour tithefor money, and take the money in your hand and go to the place [of worship] which the Lordyour God chooses.

26 You may spend the money foranything your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or [other] strong drink, oranything else you want. You shall eat there in the presence of the Lordyour God and rejoice, you and your household.

27 Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your [city] gates, for he does not have a share [of land] or an inheritance among you.

28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce for that year, and shall store it up within your [city] gates.

29 The Levite, because he has no share [of land] or an inheritance among you, and the stranger, and the orphan and the widow who are within your [city] gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lordyour God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

The Sabbatical Year

1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release (remission, pardon)from debt.

2 This is the regulation for the release: everycreditor shall forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall notrequire repayment from his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’srelease has been proclaimed.

3 You may require repayment from a foreigner, but whatever of yours is with your brother [Israelite] your hand shall release.

4 However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lordwill most certainly bless you in the land which the Lordyour God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

5 if only you will listen toandobey the voice of the Lordyour God, to observe carefully all these commandments which I am commanding you today.

6 When the Lordyour God blessesyou as He has promised you, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 “If there is a poor man among you, one of your fellow Israelites, inany of your cities in the land that the Lordyour God is giving you, you shall notbe heartless, norclose-fisted with your poor brother;

8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend to himwhatever he needs.

9 Beware that there is no wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release (remission, pardon), is approaching,’ and your eye is hostile (unsympathetic) toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing [since he would not have to repay you]; for he may cry out to the Lordagainst you, and it will become a sin for you.

10 You shall freelyandgenerously give to him, and your heart shall not be resentful when you give to him, because for this [generous] thing the Lordyour God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

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

12 “If your fellow Israelite, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you shall set him free [from your service].

13 When you set him free, you shall not let him go away empty-handed.

14 You shall give him generous provisions from your flock, from your threshing floor and from your wine press; you shall give to him as the Lordyour God has blessed you.

15 And you shall rememberandthoughtfully consider that you were [once] a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lordyour God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you these things today.

16 Now if the servant says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you;

17 then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall [willingly] be your servant always. Also you shall do the same for your maidservant.

18 “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has served you six yearswithdouble the service of a hired man; so the Lordyour God will bless you in everything you do.

19 “You shall consecrate (set apart) to the Lordyour God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock. You shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lordyour God in the place [for worship] which the Lordchooses.

21 But if it has any defectorinjury,such aslameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lordyour God.

22 You shall eat it within your [city] gates; the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean alikemay eat it, as [if it were] a gazelle or a deer.

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

The Feast of Passover

1 “Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lordyour God, for in the month of Abib the Lordyour God brought you out of Egypt by night.

2 You shall sacrifice the Passover [lamb] to the Lordyour God from the flock or the herd, in the place where the Lordchooses toestablish His Name (Presence).

3 You shall not eatleavened bread with it;instead,for seven days you shall eat the Passover with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you left the land of Egypt in haste); [do this] so that all the days of your life you may remember [thoughtfully] the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

4 For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the meat which you sacrificed the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning.

5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover [lamb] in any of your cities which the Lordyour God is giving you;

6 but at the place where the Lordyour God chooses to establish His Name (Presence), you shall sacrifice the Passover [lamb] in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.

7 You shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lordyour God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents.

8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a celebration to the Lordyour God; so you shall do no work [on that day].

The Feast of Weeks

9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.

10 Then you shall celebrate theFeast of Weeks to the Lordyour God with a tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give [to Him] just as the Lordyour God blesses you;

11 and you shall rejoice before the Lordyour God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lordyour God chooses to establish His Name (Presence).

12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to obey these statutes.

The Feast of Booths

13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) seven days, when you have gathered in [the grain] from your threshing floor and [the wine] from your wine vat.

14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are within your city.

15 Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lordyour God in the place which the Lordchooses, because the Lordyour God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lordyour God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) and at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and at the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), and they shall not appear before the Lordempty-handed.

17 Every manshall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing which the Lordyour God has given you.

18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your cities (gates) which the Lordyour God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

19 You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

20 You shall pursue justice,and onlyjustice [that which is uncompromisingly righteous], so that you may live and take possession of the land which the Lordyour God is giving you.

21 “You shall not plant for yourself anAsherah of any kind of treeorwood beside the altar of the Lordyour God, which you shall make.

22 You shall not set up for yourself asacredpillar which the Lordyour God hates.

Administration of Justice

1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lordyour God an ox or sheep with a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lordyour God.

2 “If there is discovered among you, within any of your cities, which the Lordyour God is giving you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the Lordyour God, by transgressing (violating) His covenant,

3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, [doing these things] which I have commanded not to do,

4 and if it is told to you and you hear about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly [all the charges]. If it is confirmedbeyond doubt that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,

5 then you shall bring that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to the gates [of your city] and you shall stone the man or the woman to death.

6 On the evidence of two or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of [only] one witness.

7 The hand of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

8 “If any case is too difficult for you to judge–between one kind of homicide and another, between one kind of lawsuit and another, between one kind of assault and another,being controversial issues in yourcourts–then you shall arise and go to the place which the Lordyour God chooses.

9 So you shall come to the Levitical priests or to the judge who isin officeat that time, and you shall consult them and they will declare to you theverdict in the case.

10 You shall act in accordance with the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lordchooses. You shall be careful to act in accordance with all of their instructions.

11 You shall act in accordance with the law which they teach you and the judgment which they tell you. You shall not turn aside from their verdict, to the right or to the left.

12 The man who acts presumptuouslyandinsolently by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lordyour God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall remove the evil from Israel.

13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

14 “When you enter the land which the Lordyour God is giving you, and you take possession of it and live there, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’

15 you shall most certainly set a king over you whom the Lordyour God chooses. You shall set a king over you from among your countrymen (brothers); you may not choose a foreigner [to rule] over you who is not your countryman.

16 Further, he shall notacquire many [war] horses for himself, nor make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire horses [to expand his military power], since the Lordsaid to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’

17 He shall not acquire multiple wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away [from God]; nor [for the same reason] shall he acquire great amounts of silver and gold.

18 “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19 And it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear [and worship] the Lordhis God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], by carefully obeying (keeping foremost in his thoughts and actively doing) all the words of this law and these statutes,

20 so that his heart will not be lifted up above his countrymen [by a false sense of self-importance and self-reliance] and that he will not turn away (deviate) from the commandment, to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may continue [to reign] for a long time in his kingdom in Israel.

Portion of the Levites

1 “The Levitical priests, the entire tribe of Levi, shall own [privately] no portion [of land] or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’sofferings by fire and His portion.

2 They shall have no inheritance [of land] among their countrymen (brothers, brethren); the Lordis theirinheritance, as He promised them.

3 “Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.

4 You shall also give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine [the first of the season], and your [olive] oil, and the first sheared fleece of your sheep.

5 For the Lordyour God has chosen him, him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand and serve in the name of the Lordforever.

6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your cities throughout Israel where he resides, and comes wheneverhe wishes to [the sanctuary] the place which the Lordchooses;

7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lordhis God, like all his fellow Levites whostand there before the Lord.

8 They shall haveequal portions to eat, exceptwhat they receivefrom the sale of their fathers’estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

9 “When you enter the land which the Lordyour God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable (repulsive) practices of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire [as a sacrifice], one who uses divinationandfortune-telling, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

11 or one who casts a charmorspell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or a necromancer [who seeks the dead].

12 For everyone who does these things is utterly repulsive to the Lord; and because of these detestable practices the Lordyour God is driving them out before you.

13 You shall be blameless (complete, perfect) before the Lordyour God.

14 For these nations which you shall dispossess listen to those who practice witchcraft and to divinersandfortune-tellers, but as for you, the Lordyour God has not allowed you to do so.

15 “The Lordyour God will raise up for you aprophet like me [Moses] from among you, from your countrymen (brothers, brethren). You shall listen to him.

16 This is according to all that you asked of the Lordyour God at Horeb (Mount Sinai) on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear the voice of the Lordmy God again, nor see this great fire anymore, so that I will not die.’

17 The Lordsaid to me, ‘They have spoken well.

18 ~‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

19 ~‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him [and there will be consequences].

20 ~‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods–that prophet shall die.’

21 If you say in your heart, ‘How will we knowandrecognize the word which the Lordhas not spoken?’

22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lordand the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lordhas not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.