Study Desk

"Do not return a slave to his master when he has escaped from his master to you.

Let him live among you wherever he wants within your gates. Do not mistreat him.

"No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.

Do not bring a female prostitute's wages or a male prostitute's^[b] earnings into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

"Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or anything that can earn interest.

You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do^[c] in the land you are entering to possess.^(f)

"If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin.

But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as sin.

Be careful to do whatever comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed what you promised^[d] to the Lord your God.^(g)

"When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but you must not put any in your container.

When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor's grain.

"If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something improper about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.^(a)

If after leaving his house she goes and becomes another man's wife,

and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house or if he^[a] dies,

the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the Lord . You must not bring guilt on the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.^(b)

"When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.

"Do not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that is like taking a life as security.

"If a man is discovered kidnapping^(c) one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

"Be careful in a case of infectious skin disease, following carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.

Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.^(d)

"When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security.

You must stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you.

If he is a poor man, you must not sleep in the garment he has given as security.

Be sure to return it^[b] to him at sunset. Then he will sleep in it and bless you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before the Lord your God.^(e)

"Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or one of the foreigners residing within a town^[c] in your land.

You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them.^(f) Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

"Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.^(g)

Do not deny justice to a foreigner or fatherless child, and do not take a widow's garment as security.

Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed^(h) you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.⁽ⁱ⁾

"When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.^(j)

When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not glean what is left. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.^(k)

"If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty.

If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime.

He may be flogged with 40 lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

"Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.^(a)

"When brothers live on the same property^[a] and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.

The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^(b)

But if the man doesn't want to marry his sister-in-law, she must go to the elders at the city gate^(c) and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel. He isn't willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.'

The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don't want to marry her,'

then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother's house.'

And his family name in Israel will be called ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.'^(d)

"If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and grabs his genitals,

you are to cut off her hand. You must not show pity.

"You must not have two different weights^[b] in your bag, one heavy and one light.^(e)

You must not have two differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller.

You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is detestable to the Lord your God.^(f)

"Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt.^(g)

They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary. They did not fear God.

When the Lord your God gives you rest^(h) from all the enemies around you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,⁽ⁱ⁾ blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget.^(j)

"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance,^(a) and you take possession of it and live in it,

you must take some of the first of all the land's produce that you harvest from the land Yahweh your God is giving you and put it in a container. Then go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to have His name dwell.^(b)

When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, you must say to him, ‘Today I acknowledge to the Lord your^[a] God that I have entered the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.'

"Then the priest will take the container from your hand and place it before the altar of the Lord your God.

You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramean.^(c) He went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there.^(d) There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.

But the Egyptians mistreated and afflicted us, and forced us to do hard labor.

So we called out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression.^(e)

Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders.

He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(f)

I have now brought the first of the land's produce that You, Lord , have given me. You will then place the container before the Lord your God and bow down to Him.

You, the Levite, and the foreign resident among you will rejoice^(g) in all the good things the Lord your God has given you and your household.

"When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year,^(h) the year of the tenth, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

Then you will say in the presence of the Lord your God: I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commands You gave me. I have not violated or forgotten Your commands.

I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead.⁽ⁱ⁾ I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all You commanded me.

Look down from Your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

"The Lord your God is commanding you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and all your soul.

Today you have affirmed that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes, commands, and ordinances, and obey Him.

And today the Lord has affirmed that you are His special people as He promised you, that you are to keep all His commands,

that He will elevate you to praise, fame, and glory above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people^(j) to the Lord your God as He promised."

Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, "Keep every command I am giving you today.

At the time you cross the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must set up large stones and cover them with plaster.^(a)

Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(b) as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

When you have crossed the Jordan, you are to set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I am commanding you today, and you are to cover them with plaster.

Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God—you must not use any iron tool on them.^(c)

Use uncut stones to build the altar of the Lord your God and offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God on it.

There you are to sacrifice fellowship offerings, eat, and rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God.

Write clearly all the words of this law on the plastered stones."

Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, "Be silent, Israel, and listen! This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.

Obey the Lord your God and follow His commands and statutes I am giving you today."