Deuteronomy 13–14

Chapter 13

¹If there arise among you a prophet, or one that dreameth dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, ²and the sign or the wonder come to pass that he told unto thee, when he said, Let us go after other gods, whom thou hast not known, and let us serve them, ³—thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for Jehovah your God proveth you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and ye shall fear him, and his commandments shall ye keep, and his voice shall ye hear; and ye shall serve him, and unto him shall ye cleave. ⁵And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; for he hath spoken revolt against Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, —to draw thee out of the way that Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

⁶If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is to thee as thy soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods (whom thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; ⁷of the gods of the peoples which are round about you, near unto thee, or far from thee, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth), ⁸thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou pity him, neither shalt thou screen him, ⁹but thou shalt in any case kill him: thy hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people; ¹⁰and thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; for he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; ¹¹and all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wicked thing as this in thy midst.

¹²If in one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee to dwell there, thou hearest, saying, ¹³There are men, children of Belial, gone out from among you, and they have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom ye have not known; ¹⁴then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and if it be truth, and the thing be certain, that this abomination hath happened in the midst of thee, ¹⁵thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it to destruction, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶And all the spoil of it shalt thou gather into the midst of the open place thereof, and shalt burn the city with fire, and all the spoil thereof, wholly to Jehovah thy God; and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again. ¹⁷And thou shalt not let anything cleave to thy hand of the devoted thing; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; ¹⁸when thou hearkenest to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, that thou mayest do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

Chapter 14

¹Ye are sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for a dead person. ²For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the 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 stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep. ⁶And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, and which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat. ⁷Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs—they shall be unclean unto you; ⁸and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud—it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch. ⁹These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat; ¹⁰but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you. ¹¹All clean birds shall ye eat. ¹²But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle, ¹³and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind; ¹⁴and every raven after its kind; ¹⁵and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind; ¹⁶the owl, and the ibis and the swan, ¹⁷and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet, ¹⁸and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. ¹⁹And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. ²⁰All clean fowls shall ye eat. ²¹Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²²Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, the produce of the field, year by year. ²³And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he will choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually. 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 Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God blesseth thee; ²⁵then shalt thou give it for money, and bind the money together in thy hand, and go to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, ²⁶and thou shalt give the money for whatever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thy house. ²⁷And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that is within thy gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee. ²⁸At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates; ²⁹and the Levite—for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee—and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.