Deuteronomy 24–27

24A man might marry a woman but later decide she doesn’t please him because he has found something bad about her. He writes out divorce papers for her, gives them to her, and sends her away from his house. ²After she leaves his house, she goes and marries another man, ³but her second husband does not like her either. So he writes out divorce papers for her, gives them to her, and sends her away from his house. Or the second husband might die. ⁴In either case, her first husband who divorced her must not marry her again, because she has become unclean. The Lord would hate this. Don’t bring this sin into the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.

⁵A man who has just married must not be sent to war or be given any other duty. He should be free to stay home for a year to make his new wife happy.

⁶If someone owes you something, do not take his two stones for grinding grain—not even the upper one—in place of what he owes, because this is how the person makes a living.

⁷If someone kidnaps a fellow Israelite, either to make him a slave or sell him, the kidnapper must be killed. You must get rid of the evil among you.

⁸Be careful when someone has a skin disease. Do exactly what the priests, the Levites, teach you, being careful to do what I have commanded them. ⁹Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.

¹⁰When you make a loan to your neighbors, don’t go into their homes to get something in place of it. ¹¹Stay outside and let them go in and get what they promised you. ¹²If a poor person gives you a coat to show he will pay the loan back, don’t keep it overnight. ¹³Give the coat back at sunset, because your neighbor needs that coat to sleep in, and he will be grateful to you. And the Lord your God will see that you have done a good thing.

¹⁴Don’t cheat hired servants who are poor and needy, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns. ¹⁵Pay them each day before sunset, because they are poor and need the money. Otherwise, they may complain to the Lord about you, and you will be guilty of sin.

¹⁶Parents must not be put to death if their children do wrong, and children must not be put to death if their parents do wrong. Each person must die for his own sin.

¹⁷Do not be unfair to a foreigner or an orphan. Don’t take a widow’s coat to make sure she pays you back. ¹⁸Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God saved you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

¹⁹When you are gathering your harvest in the field and leave behind a bundle of grain, don’t go back and get it. Leave it there for foreigners, orphans, and widows so that the Lord your God can bless everything you do. ²⁰When you beat your olive trees to knock the olives off, don’t beat the trees a second time. Leave what is left for foreigners, orphans, and widows. ²¹When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don’t pick the vines a second time. Leave what is left for foreigners, orphans, and widows. ²²Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; that is why I am commanding you to do this.

25If two people have an argument and go to court, the judges will decide the case. They will declare one person right and the other guilty. ²If the guilty person has to be punished with a beating, the judge will make that person lie down and be beaten in front of him. The number of lashes should match the crime. ³But don’t hit a person more than forty times, because more than that would disgrace him before others.

⁴When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating.

⁵If two brothers are living together, and one of them dies without having a son, his widow must not marry someone outside her husband’s family. Her husband’s brother must marry her, which is his duty to her as a brother-in-law. ⁶The first son she has counts as the son of the dead brother so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.

⁷But if a man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she should go to the elders at the town gate. She should say, “My brother-in-law will not carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He refuses to do his duty for me.”

⁸Then the elders of the town must call for the man and talk to him. But if he is stubborn and says, “I don’t want to marry her,” ⁹the woman must go up to him in front of the leaders. She must take off one of his sandals and spit in his face and say, “This is for the man who won’t continue his brother’s family!” ¹⁰Then that man’s family shall be known in Israel as the Family of the Unsandaled.

¹¹If two men are fighting and one man’s wife comes to save her husband from his attacker, grabbing the attacker by his sex organs, ¹²you must cut off her hand. Show her no mercy.

¹³Don’t carry two sets of weights with you, one heavy and one light. ¹⁴Don’t have two different sets of measures in your house, one large and one small. ¹⁵You must have true and honest weights and measures so that you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶The Lord your God hates anyone who is dishonest and uses dishonest measures.

¹⁷Remember what the Amalekites did to you when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸When you were tired and worn out, they met you on the road and attacked all those lagging behind. They were not afraid of God. ¹⁹When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you as your own, you shall destroy any memory of the Amalekites on the earth. Do not forget!

The First Harvest

26When you go into the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, to take it over and live in it, ²you must take some of the first harvest of crops that grow from the land the Lord your God is giving you. Put the food in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God will choose to be worshiped. ³Say to the priest on duty at that time, “Today I declare before the Lord your God that I have come into the land the Lord promised our ancestors that he would give us.” ⁴The priest will take your basket and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵Then you shall announce before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with only a few people, but they became a great, powerful, and large nation there. ⁶But the Egyptians were cruel to us, making us suffer and work very hard. ⁷So we prayed to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he heard us. When he saw our trouble, hard work, and suffering, ⁸the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power and strength, using great terrors, signs, and miracles. ⁹Then he brought us to this place and gave us this fertile land. ¹⁰Now I bring part of the first harvest from this land that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. ¹¹Then you and the Levites and foreigners among you should rejoice, because the Lord your God has given good things to you and your family.

¹²Bring a tenth of all your harvest the third year (the year to give a tenth of your harvest). Give it to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows so that they may eat in your towns and be full. ¹³Then say to the Lord your God, “I have taken out of my house the part of my harvest that belongs to God, and I have given it to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. I have done everything you commanded me; I have not broken your commands, and I have not forgotten any of them. ¹⁴I have not eaten any of the holy part while I was in sorrow. I have not removed any of it while I was unclean, and I have not offered it for dead people. I have obeyed you, the Lord my God, and have done everything you commanded me. ¹⁵So look down from heaven, your holy home. Bless your people Israel and bless the land you have given us, which you promised to our ancestors—a fertile land.”

Obey the Lord’s Commands

¹⁶Today the Lord your God commands you to obey all these rules and laws; be careful to obey them with your whole being. ¹⁷Today you have said that the Lord is your God, and you have promised to do what he wants you to do—to keep his rules, commands, and laws. You have said you will obey him. ¹⁸And today the Lord has said that you are his very own people, as he has promised you. But you must obey his commands. ¹⁹He will make you greater than all the other nations he made. He will give you praise, fame, and honor, and you will be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has said.

The Law Written on Stones

27Then Moses, along with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commands I have given you today. ²Soon you will cross the Jordan River to go into the land the Lord your God is giving you. On that day set up some large stones and cover them with plaster. ³When you cross over, write all the words of these teachings on them. Then you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised. ⁴After you have crossed the Jordan River, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and cover them with plaster. ⁵Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God, but don’t use any iron tool to cut the stones; ⁶build the altar of the Lord your God with stones from the field. Offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, ⁷and offer fellowship offerings there, and eat them and rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸Then write clearly all the words of these teachings on the stones.”

Curses of the Law

⁹Then Moses and the Levites who were priests spoke to all Israel and said, “Be quiet, Israel. Listen! Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰Obey the Lord your God, and keep his commands and laws that I give you today.”

¹¹That day Moses also gave the people this command:

¹²When you cross the Jordan River, these tribes must stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³And these tribes must stand on Mount Ebal to announce the…