Deuteronomy 18–21

18“And there shall not be for the Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, a plot of ground and an inheritance with Israel, rather they may eat an offering made by fire as their inheritance,^a for Yahweh. ²And there shall not be for them^b an inheritance of land in the midst of his brothers; rather Yahweh is his inheritance, just as he promised^c to them.^d

³Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from those who sacrifice the sacrifice,^e whether it is an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach. ⁴The firstfruits^f of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil and the firstfruits^g of the fleece of your sheep you shall give to him. ⁵For Yahweh your God has chosen him from among all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, he and his sons forever.^h

⁶And if aⁱ Levite comes from one of your towns^j from anywhere in Israel^k where he is residing, he may come whenever he desires,^l to the place that Yahweh will choose, ⁷and he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God, just like all his brothers, the Levites who stand there^m beforeⁿ Yahweh. ⁸They shall eat equal portions,^o apart from what he may receive from the sale of his patrimony.^p

⁹“When you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, you must not learn to do like the detestable practices of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or one who practices divination,^q or an interpreter of signs,^r or an augur,^s or sorcerer, ¹¹or one who casts magic spells, or one who consults a spirit of the dead,^t or spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead.^{u 12}For everyone doing these things is detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you.^{v 13}You must be blameless before Yahweh your God. ¹⁴For these nations that you are about to dispossess listen to interpreters of signs^w and to diviners, but Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do the same.

¹⁵“Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen,^x and to him you shall listen. ¹⁶This is according to all that you asked^y from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, saying,^z ‘I do not want again to hear^a the voice of Yahweh my God, and I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!’ ¹⁷And Yahweh said to me, ‘They are right in what they have said. ¹⁸I will raise up a prophet for them from among their countrymen^b like you, and I will place^c my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.^{d 19}And then^e the man that will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I will hold accountable. ²⁰However, the prophet that behaves presumptuously by speaking a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, and who speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet shall die.’ ²¹And if you say to yourself,^f ‘How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken it?’ ²²Whenever what the prophet spoke in the name of Yahweh, the thing does not take place and does not come about, that is the thing that Yahweh has not spoken it. Presumptuously the prophet spoke it; you shall not fear him.”

19“When Yahweh your God has exterminated^a the nations concerning whom Yahweh your God is giving to you their land, and you have dispossessed them, and you have settled in their towns and in their houses, ²you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it. ³You shall prepare the roads^b for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that it will be available for any manslayer to flee there.^c

⁴“Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live there who has killed his neighbor unintentionally,^d and he did not hate him previously.^{e 5}For example,^f when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron head slips from the handle of the tool and strikes his neighbor and he dies, then he may flee to one of these cities, and so he may live. ⁶He does this lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because he is hot with anger^g and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance to the city of refuge, and so he kills him,^h but he did not deserve a death sentence,ⁱ because he was not hating him before.^{j 7}Therefore I am commanding you, saying,^k ‘You shall set apart three cities.’ ⁸Then if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory just as he swore to your ancestors^l and gives^m to you all the land that he promisedⁿ to give to your ancestors,^{o 9}then if you diligently observe this entire commandment^p that I am commanding you today^q by loving Yahweh your God and by going^r in his ways at all times,^s then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three. ¹⁰Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed^t in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance and thereby bloodguilt would be on you.^u

¹¹But if someone hates^v his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up^w against him and murders him,^x and the murderer flees to one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death. ¹³Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that good will be directed toward you.^y

¹⁴“You shall not move the boundary marker of your neighbor that former generations^z set up on your property in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it. ¹⁵The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict^a with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person^b committed; on the evidence^c of two witnesses or on the evidence^d of three witnesses a charge shall be sustained.^{e 16}If a malicious witness^f gets up to accuse^g anyone to testify against him falsely, ¹⁷then the two men to whom the legal dispute pertains^h shall stand beforeⁱ Yahweh, before^j the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. ¹⁸Then judges shall make a thorough inquiry, and if it turns out^k that the witness is a false witness and he testified falsely against his brother, ¹⁹then you shall do to him as he meant^l to do to his brother, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst. ²⁰And the rest^m shall hear and shall fear, and they shall not continue to do such a thing againⁿ as this evil thing in your midst. ²¹You must show no pity:^o life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

20“If you go out to war against your enemies and you see a horse and a chariot, an army^a larger than you, you shall not be afraid because of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, the one who brought you from the land of Egypt. ²And then^b when you approach the battle, then the priest shall come near and speak to the troops. ³And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are near today^c to the battle against your enemies; do not lose heart;^d you shall not be afraid, and you shall not panic, and you shall not be terrified because of them,^{e 4}for Yahweh your God is going with you to fight for you against your enemies to help you.’ ⁵And the officials shall speak to the troops, saying,^f ‘Who is the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to this house, so that he does not die in battle and another man^g dedicates it. ⁶And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed it? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man^h enjoys it. ⁷And who is the man who got engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another manⁱ marries her.’ ⁸And the officials shall continue to speak to the troops, and they shall say, ‘What man^j is afraid and disheartened?^k Let him go, and let him return to his house, and let him not cause the heart of his brothers to melt^l like his.’ ⁹And when the officials have finished speaking^m to the army troops, then they shall appoint commanders of divisions at the head of the troops.

¹⁰“When you approach a city to fight against it, you must offer it peace.^{n 11}And then^o if they accept your terms of peace^p and they surrender to you,^q and then^r all the people inhabiting it^s shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you. ¹²But if they do not accept your terms of peace^t and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.^{u 13}And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge^v of the sword. ¹⁴Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals^w and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh your God has given to you. ¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the far^x cities from you, which are not from the cities of these nations located nearby.^y

¹⁶But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.^{z 17}Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites^a and the Amorites,^b the Canaanites^c and the Perizzites,^d the Hivites,^e and the Jebusites,^f just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, ¹⁸so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹“If^g you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them,^h for you may eat from them,ⁱ and so you must not cut them^j down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege against…