13“If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams^a and he gives to you a sign or wonder, ²and the sign or^b the wonder comes about that he spoke^c to you, saying,^d ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’ ³you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love^e Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self.^f ⁴You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. ⁵But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the one bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the one redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so in this way you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁶“If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter or your wife whom you embrace^g or your intimate friend^h in secrecy says,ⁱ ‘Let us go and let us serve other gods!’ gods that you and your ancestors^j have not known, ⁷from among the gods of the people who are around you, those near you or those far from you,^k from one end of the earth and up to the other end of the earth, ⁸you must not give in to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall not have compassion, and you shall not cover up^l for him. ⁹But you shall certainly kill him; your hand shall be first against him to kill him and next the hand of all of the people. ¹⁰And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the one bringing you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹¹And all of Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and they shall not continue to act^m according to this evil thing in your midst.

¹²“If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God is giving to you to live in, someone saying thatⁿ ¹³worthless men^o have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, saying,^p ‘Let us go and serve other gods!’ whom you have not known, ¹⁴then you shall inquire and examine and interrogate thoroughly, and, look! It is true; the thing has actually been done, this detestable thing in your midst, ¹⁵then you shall certainly strike down the inhabitants of that town with the edge^q of the sword; you shall destroy it and everything in it, its domestic animals with the edge^r of the sword. ¹⁶And then you shall gather all of its booty into the middle of its public square, and you shall burn the town and all of its war-booty totally for Yahweh your God, and it shall be a pile of rubble forever;^s it shall not be built again. ¹⁷And let not something cling to your hand from the things devoted to destruction, so that Yahweh may turn back from his burning anger,^t and he may show compassion to you and he may continue to show compassion and so multiply you just as he swore^u to your ancestors,^v ¹⁸if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all of his commandments that I am commanding to you today^w so as to do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh your God.”

14“You are children^a of Yahweh your God; therefore you must not gash^b yourself, and you must not make your forehead bald^c for the dead. ²For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God, and you Yahweh has chosen to be a treasured possession from among all of the peoples that are on the surface^d of the earth.

³You shall not eat any detestable thing. ⁴These are the animals you may eat: ox, sheep, goats,^e ⁵deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. ⁶And any animal having a split hoof^f and so a dividing of the hoof into two parts^g and that chews the cud^h among the animalsⁱ—that animal you may eat. ⁷Only these you may not eat from those chewing the cud^j and from those having a division of the hoof:^k the camel and the hare and the coney, because they chew the cud,^l but they do not divide the hoof; they are therefore unclean for you. ⁸And also the pig because it has a division of the hoof^m but does not chew the cud;ⁿ it is unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.^o

⁹“This is what you shall eat from all that is in the water: everything^p that has fins and scales^q you may eat. ¹⁰But anything that does not have^r fins and scales, you may not eat, for it is unclean for you.

¹¹“All of the birds that are clean you may eat. ¹²Now these are the ones you shall not eat any of them:^s the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle,^t ¹³and the red kite^u and the black kite or any kind of falcon,^v ¹⁴and any kind of crow^w according to its kind, ¹⁵and the ostrich^x and the short-eared owl and the seagull^y and the hawk according to its kind, ¹⁶the little owl and the great owl and the barn owl,^z ¹⁷and the desert owl^a and the carrion vulture^b and the cormorant,^c ¹⁸and the stork and the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat. ¹⁹And also all of the winged insects;^d they are unclean for you; you shall not eat them. ²⁰You may eat any clean bird.

²¹“You shall not eat any carcass;^e you may give it to the alien who is in your towns,^f and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people for Yahweh your God; you may not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²²“Certainly you must give a tithe of all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from your field year after year.^g ²³And you shall eat before^h Yahweh your God in the place that he will choose to make to dwell his name there the tithe of your grain, your wine and your olive oil and the firstling of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to revere Yahweh your God always.ⁱ ²⁴But if the distance is too great for you,^j so that you are not able to transport^k it, because the place that Yahweh your God will choose to set his name there, it is too far from you, when Yahweh your God will bless you, ²⁵then in that case you may exchange for money,^l and you shall take^m the money to your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose. ²⁶You may spend the money for anything that you desire,ⁿ for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for anything that you desire,^o and you shall eat it there before^p Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷And as to the Levite who is in your towns,^q you shall not neglect him, because there is not a plot of ground for him and an inheritance along with you.

²⁸“At the end of three years you shall bring out all of the tithe of your yield for that year, and you shall store it in your towns.^r ²⁹And so the Levite may come, because there is no plot of ground for him or an inheritance with you, and the alien also may come and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns,^s and they may eat their fill,^t so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all of the work of your hand that you undertake.”

Read in Logos

Footnotes

aHebrew “dream”
bHebrew “and”
cOr “promised/declared”
dLiterally “to say”
eLiterally “a testing of Yahweh your God concerning you in order to know whether there is you loving”
fOr “soul”
gLiterally “or the wife of your embrace”
hLiterally “your friend who is like your soul/inner self”
iLiterally “to say”
jOr “fathers”
kLiterally “the near ones to you or the distant ones from you”
lOr “conceal” him
mLiterally “they shall not add to do”
nLiterally “to say”
oLiterally “sons of Belial”
pLiterally “to say”
qLiterally “mouth”
rLiterally “mouth”
sLiterally “a tell/ruin forever”
tLiterally “from the burning of his nose”
uLiterally “as that he swore”
vOr “fathers”
wLiterally “the day”
aOr “sons”
bOr “cut”
cLiterally “you shall not make/place baldness between your eyes”
dOr “face”
eLiterally “small livestock of the sheep and a small livestock of the goats”
fOr “divides the hoof”
gLiterally “a dividing cleft creating two hoofs”
hLiterally “and that brings up the cud”
iHebrew “animal”
jLiterally “bringing up the cud”
kLiterally “those having a division of the hoof divided”
lLiterally “they bringing up of the cud”
mLiterally “because a division of the hoof”
nLiterally “but not a chewing cud”
oLiterally “dead body”
pLiterally “all of that”
qLiterally “for it is fins and scales,” showing possession of these features
rLiterally “all of that there is not for it,” showing lack of possession of these features
sLiterally “from them”
tThis list of birds is difficult to translate since the terms are not definitely known: e.g., some translations render the last bird as a “buzzard” (NASV); other translations give different names for all three: griffon vulture, black vulture, bearded vulture (NEB)
uVarious options are available: large bird, kite, red kite, glede, buzzard
vLiterally “or the falcon according to its kind”; other options for falcon: bird, falcon, kite (others as carrion-bird), vulture, crow or raven, buzzard
wOr others translate as “raven”
xLiterally “daughter of the ostrich”; others “desert owl”
yOr “long-eared owl”
zOr “white owl”
aOr “large bird” or “horned-owl”
bOr “large bird”
cOr “large bird,” or “fisher-owl”
dLiterally “the swarmers of the flyers” or “all the swarms of things that fly”
eOr “corpse”
fLiterally “gates”
gLiterally “the going forth of the field year by year”
hLiterally “before the faces of”
iLiterally “all of the days”
jLiterally “it is great from you the journey that”
kOr “carry”
lLiterally “you may give it in for the money/silver”
mOr “bind”
nLiterally “that your soul/inner self desires”
oLiterally “that your soul/inner self desires”
pLiterally “to the face of”
qLiterally “gates”
rLiterally “gates”
sLiterally “gates”
tLiterally “they may eat and they may be satisfied”