Deuteronomy 14-17

Deuteronomy 14

¹Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

²For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

³Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

⁴These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

⁵the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the chamois.

⁶And every beast that parteth the hoof, and hath the hoof cloven in two, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat.

⁷Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the coney, because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they are unclean unto you:

⁸and the swine, because he parteth the hoof but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you: of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcases ye shall not touch.

⁹These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat:

¹⁰and whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat; it is unclean unto you.

¹¹Of all clean birds ye may eat.

¹²But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the gier eagle, and the ospray;

¹³and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind;

¹⁴and every raven after its kind;

¹⁵and the ostrich, and the night hawk, and the seamew, and the hawk after its kind;

¹⁶the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl;

¹⁷and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant;

¹⁸and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹And all winged creeping things are unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.

²⁰Of all clean fowls ye may eat.

²¹Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.

²²Thou shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy seed, that which cometh forth of the field year by year.

²³And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

²⁴And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God shall bless thee:

²⁵then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:

²⁶and thou shalt bestow the money for whatsoever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household:

²⁷and the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee.

²⁸At the end of every three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:

²⁹and the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

Deuteronomy 15

¹At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.

²And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not exact it of his neighbour and his brother; because the LORD’S release hath been proclaimed.

³Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it: but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thine hand shall release.

⁴Howbeit there shall be no poor with thee; (for the LORD will surely bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it;)

⁵if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

⁶For the LORD thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.

⁷If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

⁸but thou shalt surely open thine hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth.

⁹Beware that there be not a base thought in thine heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

¹⁰Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

¹¹For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt surely open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land.

¹²If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

¹³And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty:

¹⁴thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress: as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

¹⁵And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.

¹⁶And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;

¹⁷then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

¹⁸It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of an hireling hath he served thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

¹⁹All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock.

²⁰Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household.

²¹And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.

²²Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart.

²³Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water.

Deuteronomy 16

¹Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

²And thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

³Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

⁴And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificest the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.

⁵Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:

⁶but at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

⁷And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.

⁸Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God; thou shalt do no work therein.

⁹Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: from the time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks.

¹⁰And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give, according as the LORD thy God blesseth thee:

¹¹and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

¹²And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

¹³Thou shalt keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress:

¹⁴and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

¹⁵Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thine hands, and thou shalt be altogether joyful.

¹⁶Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

¹⁷every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

¹⁸Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, according to thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons: neither shalt thou take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

²⁰That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

²¹Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

²²Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar; which the LORD thy God hateth.

Deuteronomy 17

¹Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God an ox, or a sheep, wherein is a blemish, or any evil-favouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

²If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

³and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

⁴and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;

⁵then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die.

⁶At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

⁷The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.

⁸If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;

⁹and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days: and thou shalt inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

¹⁰and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the sentence, which they shall shew thee from that place which the LORD shall choose; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee:

¹¹according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

¹²And the man that doeth presumptuously, in not hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

¹³And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

¹⁴When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein; and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are round about me;

¹⁵thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, which is not thy brother.

¹⁶Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

¹⁸And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

¹⁹and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

²⁰that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.