Category: Deuteronomy

[10:12] “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

[10:13] and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

[10:14] Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.

[10:15] Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

[10:16] Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

[10:17] For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

[10:18] He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

[10:19] Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

[10:20] You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.

[10:21] He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.

[10:22] Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

[11:1] “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

[11:2] And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm,

[11:3] his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land,

[11:4] and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day,

[11:5] and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place,

[11:6] and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel.

[11:7] For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did.

[11:8] “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess,

[11:9] and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[11:10] For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables.

[11:11] But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven,

[11:12] a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

[11:13] “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

[11:14] he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.

[11:15] And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.

[11:16] Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;

[11:17] then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

[11:18] “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

[11:19] You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

[11:20] You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

[11:21] that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

[11:22] For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him,

[11:23] then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

[11:24] Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.

[11:25] No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.

[11:26] “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

[11:27] the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today,

[11:28] and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

[11:29] And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

[11:30] Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh?

[11:31] For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it,

[11:32] you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

[12:1] “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.

[12:2] You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

[12:3] You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.

[12:4] You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.

[12:5] But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,

[12:6] and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

[12:7] And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

[12:8] “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,

[12:9] for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.

[12:10] But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,

[12:11] then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord.

[12:12] And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

[12:13] Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

[12:14] but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

[12:15] “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.

[12:16] Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

[12:17] You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present,

[12:18] but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake.

[12:19] Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

[12:20] “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire.

[12:21] If the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.

[12:22] Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

[12:23] Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

[12:24] You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

[12:25] You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

[12:26] But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the Lord will choose,

[12:27] and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat.

[12:28] Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

[14:1] “You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead.

[14:2] For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

[14:3] “You shall not eat any abomination.

[14:4] These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

[14:5] the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

[14:6] Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

[14:7] Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you.

[14:8] And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

[14:9] “Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat.

[14:10] And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

[14:11] “You may eat all clean birds.

[14:12] But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

[14:13] the kite, the falcon of any kind;

[14:14] every raven of any kind;

[14:15] the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind;

[14:16] the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl

[14:17] and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant,

[14:18] the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat.

[14:19] And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

[14:20] All clean winged things you may eat.

[14:21] “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

[14:22] “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.

[14:23] And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

[14:24] And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there,

[14:25] then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses

[14:26] and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.

[14:27] And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

[14:28] “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns.

[14:29] And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

[15:1] “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.

[15:2] And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.

[15:3] Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

[15:4] But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—

[15:5] if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.

[15:6] For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

[15:7] “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,

[15:8] but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

[15:9] Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.

[15:10] You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

[15:11] For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

[15:12] “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

[15:13] And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.

[15:14] You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

[15:15] 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 today.

[15:16] But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you,

[15:17] then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.

[15:18] It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

[15:19] “All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

[15:20] You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose.

[15:21] But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

[15:22] You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.

[15:23] Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

[16:1] “Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

[16:2] And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there.

[16:3] You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

[16:4] No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning.

[16:5] You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you,

[16:6] but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.

[16:7] And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

[16:8] For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

[16:9] “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

[16:10] Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.

[16:11] And 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 towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.

[16:12] You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

[16:13] “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.

[16:14] You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.

[16:15] For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

[16:16] “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

[16:17] Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.