The Holy Bible

[11:8] “Obey everything that I have commanded you today. Then you will be able to cross the river and occupy the land that you are about to enter.

[11:9] And you will live a long time in the rich and fertile land that the Lord promised to give your ancestors and their descendants.

[11:10] The land that you are about to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, where you lived before. There, when you planted grain, you had to work hard to irrigate the fields;

[11:11] but the land that you are about to enter is a land of mountains and valleys, a land watered by rain.

[11:12] The Lord your God takes care of this land and watches over it throughout the year.

[11:13] “So then, obey the commands that I have given you today; love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart.

[11:14] If you do, he will send rain on your land when it is needed, in the autumn and in the spring, so that there will be grain, wine, and olive oil for you,

[11:15] and grass for your livestock. You will have all the food you want.

[11:16] Do not let yourselves be led away from the Lord to worship and serve other gods.

[11:17] If you do, the Lord will become angry with you. He will hold back the rain, and your ground will become too dry for crops to grow. Then you will soon die there, even though it is a good land that he is giving you.

[11:18] “Remember these commands and cherish them. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder.

[11:19] Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.

[11:20] Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

[11:21] Then you and your children will live a long time in the land that the Lord your God promised to give to your ancestors. You will live there as long as there is a sky above the earth.

[11:22] “Obey faithfully everything that I have commanded you: Love the Lord your God, do everything he commands, and be faithful to him.

[11:23] Then he will drive out all those nations as you advance, and you will occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you.

[11:24] All the ground that you march over will be yours. Your territory will extend from the desert in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

[11:25] Wherever you go in that land, the Lord your God will make the people fear you, as he has promised, and no one will be able to stop you.

[11:26] “Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse—

[11:27] a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today;

[11:28] but a curse, if you disobey these commands and turn away to worship other gods that you have never worshiped before.

[11:29] When the Lord brings you into the land that you are going to occupy, you are to proclaim the blessing from Mount Gerizim and the curse from Mount Ebal. (

[11:30] These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the territory of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley. They are toward the west, not far from the sacred trees of Moreh near the town of Gilgal.)

[11:31] You are about to cross the Jordan River and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it and settle there,

[11:32] be sure to obey all the laws that I am giving you today.

[12:1] “Here are the laws that you are to obey as long as you live in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Listen to them!

[12:2] In the land that you are taking, destroy all the places where the people worship their gods on high mountains, on hills, and under green trees.

[12:3] Tear down their altars and smash their sacred stone pillars to pieces. Burn their symbols of the goddess Asherah and chop down their idols, so that they will never again be worshiped at those places.

[12:4] “Do not worship the Lord your God in the way that these people worship their gods.

[12:5] Out of the territory of all your tribes the Lord will choose the one place where the people are to come into his presence and worship him.

[12:6] There you are to offer your sacrifices that are to be burned and your other sacrifices, your tithes and your offerings, the gifts that you promise to the Lord, your freewill offerings, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep.

[12:7] There, in the presence of the Lord your God, who has blessed you, you and your families will eat and enjoy the good things that you have worked for.

[12:8] “When that time comes, you must not do as you have been doing. Until now you have all been worshiping as you please,

[12:9] because you have not yet entered the land that the Lord your God is giving you, where you can live in peace.

[12:10] When you cross the Jordan River, the Lord will let you occupy the land and live there. He will keep you safe from all your enemies, and you will live in peace.

[12:11] The Lord will choose a single place where he is to be worshiped, and there you must bring to him everything that I have commanded: your sacrifices that are to be burned and your other sacrifices, your tithes and your offerings, and those special gifts that you have promised to the Lord.

[12:12] Be joyful there in his presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns; remember that the Levites will have no land of their own.

[12:13] You are not to offer your sacrifices wherever you choose;

[12:14] you must offer them only in the one place that the Lord will choose in the territory of one of your tribes. Only there are you to offer your sacrifices that are to be burned and do all the other things that I have commanded you.

[12:15] “But you are free to kill and eat your animals wherever you live. You may eat as many as the Lord gives you. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you would eat the meat of deer or antelope.

[12:16] But you must not eat their blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.

[12:17] Nothing that you offer to the Lord is to be eaten in the places where you live: neither the tithes of your grain, your wine, or your olive oil, nor the first-born of your cattle and sheep, the gifts that you promise to the Lord, your freewill offerings, or any other offerings.

[12:18] You and your children, together with your servants and the Levites who live in your towns, are to eat these offerings only in the presence of the Lord your God, in the one place of worship chosen by the Lord your God. And you are to be happy there over everything that you have done.

[12:19] Be sure, also, not to neglect the Levites, as long as you live in your land.

[12:20] “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want to.

[12:21] If the one place of worship is too far away, then, whenever you wish, you may kill any of the cattle or sheep that the Lord has given you, and you may eat the meat at home, as I have told you.

[12:22] Anyone, ritually clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as he would eat the meat of deer or antelope.

[12:23] Only do not eat meat with blood still in it, for the life is in the blood, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

[12:24] Do not use the blood for food; instead, pour it out on the ground like water.

[12:25] If you obey this command, the Lord will be pleased, and all will go well for you and your descendants.

[12:26] Take to the one place of worship your offerings and the gifts that you have promised the Lord.

[12:27] Offer there the sacrifices which are to be completely burned on the Lord's altar. Also offer those sacrifices in which you eat the meat and pour the blood out on the altar.

[12:28] Obey faithfully everything that I have commanded you, and all will go well for you and your descendants forever, because you will be doing what is right and what pleases the Lord your God.

[14:1] “You are the people of the Lord your God. So when you mourn for the dead, don't gash yourselves or shave the front of your head, as other people do.

[14:2] You belong to the Lord your God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.

[14:3] “Do not eat anything that the Lord has declared unclean.

[14:4] You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats,

[14:5] deer, wild sheep, wild goats, or antelopes—

[14:6] any animals that have divided hoofs and that also chew the cud.

[14:7] But no animals may be eaten unless they have divided hoofs and also chew the cud. You may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. They must be considered unclean; they chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs.

[14:8] Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs but do not chew the cud. Do not eat any of these animals or even touch their dead bodies.

[14:9] “You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales,

[14:10] but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales may not be eaten; it must be considered unclean.

[14:11] “You may eat any clean bird.

[14:19] “All winged insects are unclean; do not eat them.

[14:20] You may eat any clean insect.

[14:21] “Do not eat any animal that dies a natural death. You may let the foreigners who live among you eat it, or you may sell it to other foreigners. But you belong to the Lord your God; you are his people. “Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.

[14:22] “Set aside a tithe—a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.

[14:23] Then go to the one place where the Lord your God has chosen to be worshiped; and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Do this so that you may learn to honor the Lord your God always.

[14:24] If the place of worship is too far from your home for you to carry there the tithe of the produce that the Lord has blessed you with, then do this:

[14:25] Sell your produce and take the money with you to the one place of worship.

[14:26] Spend it on whatever you want—beef, lamb, wine, beer—and there, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families are to eat and enjoy yourselves.

[14:27] “Do not neglect the Levites who live in your towns; they have no property of their own.

[14:28] At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in your towns.

[14:29] This food is for the Levites, since they own no property, and for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

[15:1] “At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money.

[15:2] This is how it is to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt; you must not try to collect the money; the Lord himself has declared the debt canceled.

[15:3] You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.

[15:4] “The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor

[15:5] if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today.

[15:6] The Lord will bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.

[15:7] “If in any of the towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them.

[15:8] Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need.

[15:9] Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

[15:10] Give to them freely and unselfishly, and the Lord will bless you in everything you do.

[15:11] There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

[15:12] “If any Israelites, male or female, sell themselves to you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free.

[15:13] When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.

[15:14] Give to them generously from what the Lord has blessed you with—sheep, grain, and wine.

[15:15] Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.

[15:16] “But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay.

[15:17] Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way.

[15:18] Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this, and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

[15:19] “Set aside for the Lord your God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep.

[15:20] Each year you and your family are to eat them in the Lord's presence at the one place of worship.

[15:21] But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the Lord your God.

[15:22] You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope.

[15:23] But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.

[16:1] “Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt.

[16:2] Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the Lord your God.

[16:3] When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread—it will be called the bread of suffering—so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

[16:4] For seven days no one in your land is to have any yeast in the house; and the meat of the animal killed on the evening of the first day must be eaten that same night.

[16:7] Boil the meat and eat it at the one place of worship; and the next morning return home.

[16:8] For the next six days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, and on the seventh day assemble to worship the Lord your God, and do no work on that day.