Deuteronomy 13–20
13 If there arise among you a prophet, or a adreamer of dreams, band giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And cthe sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which 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 the Lord your God dproveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall ewalk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and fcleave unto him. 5 And gthat prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath †spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to sthrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. hSo shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 6 iIf thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or jthe wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, kwhich is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, lof the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt mnot consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither nshall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; othine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 pAnd thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to sthrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of †bondage. 11 And qall Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. 12 rIf thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain men, ||the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have swithdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 14 Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask tdiligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; 15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, udestroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt xburn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be yan heap for ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave nought of the ||cursed thing to thine hand: athat the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, bas he hath sworn unto thy fathers; 18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, cto do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God.
14 Ye are athe children of the Lord your God: bye shall not cut yourselves, nor cmake any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2 dFor thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be ea peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
3 fThou shalt not eat any abominable thing. 4 gThese are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5 hThe hart, and hthe roebuck, and hthe fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the ||pygarg, and ithe wild ox, and the chamois. 6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. 7 Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. 8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, jnor touch their dead carcase.
9 These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: 10 And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.
11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat. 12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, 13 And kthe glede, and the kite, and lthe vulture after his kind, 14 And every raven after his kind, 15 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 16 The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, 17 And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, 18 And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. 19 And levery creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: mthey shall not be eaten. 20 But of all clean fowls ye may eat.
21 nYe shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: ofor thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. pThou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. 22 qThou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. 23 rAnd thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and sthe firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. 24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or tif the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: 25 Then shalt thou turn it into money, and ubind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: 26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul †desireth: and wthou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, 27 And xthe Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for yhe hath no part nor inheritance with thee. 28 zAt 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: 29 zAnd the Levite, (because yhe hath no part 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 athe Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.
15 At the end of aevery seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: Every †creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release. 3 bOf a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; 4 ||Save when there shall be no poor among you; cfor the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: 5 Only dif thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. 6 For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and ethou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and fthou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. 7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not gharden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: 8 hBut thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 9 Beware that there be not a †thought in thy †wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine ieye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and khe cry unto the Lord against thee, and lit be sin unto thee. 10 Thou shalt surely give him, and mthine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that nfor this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all othat thou puttest thine hand unto. 11 For pthe poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, qThou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
12 And rif 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. 13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: 14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath sblessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15 And tthou 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 to day. 16 And it shall be, uif he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; 17 Then thou shalt take an aul, 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. 18 It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double whired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in