²Sacrifice an animal from your flock or herd. It is the Passover sacrifice in honor of the Lord your God. Sacrifice it at the special place the Lord will choose. He will put his Name there.

³Don’t eat the animal along with bread that is made with yeast. Instead, for seven days eat bread that is made without yeast. It’s the bread that reminds you of how much you suffered. Remember that you left Egypt in a hurry. Remember it all the days of your life. Don’t forget the day you left Egypt. ⁴Don’t keep any yeast anywhere in your land for seven days.

Don’t let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day be left over until the next morning.

⁵You must not sacrifice the Passover animal in any town the Lord your God is giving you. ⁶Sacrifice it only in the special place he will choose for his Name. Sacrifice it there in the evening when the sun goes down. Do it on the same day every year. Be sure it’s the day you left Egypt. ⁷Cook it and eat it. Do it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents.

⁸For six days eat bread that is made without yeast. On the seventh day come together for a service in honor of the Lord your God. Don’t do any work.

The Feast of Weeks

⁹Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to cut your grain in the field. ¹⁰Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks in honor of the Lord your God. Give anything you choose to give as an offering. Do it in keeping with the blessings the Lord has given you.

¹¹Be filled with joy in the sight of the Lord your God. Be joyful at the special place he will choose for his Name. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites who are living in your towns. So should the outsiders and widows who are living among you. And so should the children whose fathers have died. ¹²Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Be careful to obey the rules I’m giving you.

The Feast of Booths

¹³Gather the grain from your threshing floors. Take the fresh wine from your winepresses. Then celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days. ¹⁴Be filled with joy at your Feast. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites, the outsiders, and the widows who are living in your towns. And so should the children whose fathers have died.

¹⁵For seven days celebrate the Feast in honor of the Lord your God. Do it at the place he will choose. The Lord will bless you when you gather all of your crops. He’ll bless you in everything you do. And you will be full of joy.

¹⁶All of your men must appear in front of the Lord your God at the holy tent. They must go to the place he will choose. They must do it three times a year. They must go there to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

No man should appear in front of the Lord without bringing something with him. ¹⁷Each of you must bring a gift. Do it in keeping with the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

Appoint Judges and Officials

¹⁸Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes. Do it in every town the Lord your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly. ¹⁹Do what is right. Treat everyone the same. Don’t take money from people who want special favors. It makes those who are wise close their eyes to the truth. It twists the words of those who do what is right. ²⁰Follow only what is right. If you do, you will live. You will take over the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Don’t Worship Other Gods

²¹Don’t set up a wooden pole that is used to worship the goddess Asherah. Don’t set it up beside the altar you build to worship the Lord your God. ²²Don’t set up a sacred stone to honor another god. The Lord your God hates Asherah poles and sacred stones.

17Suppose an ox or sheep has anything at all wrong with it. Then don’t sacrifice it to the Lord your God. He hates it.

²Someone who is living among you might do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God. It might happen in one of the towns the Lord is giving you. That person is breaking the Lord’s covenant. ³The person might have worshiped or bowed down to other gods. That person might have bowed down to the sun or moon or stars in the sky. I have commanded you not to do those things. ⁴When you hear that people have done something like that, check the matter out carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has been done in Israel. It’s something the Lord hates.

⁵So take the person who has done that evil thing to your city gate. Put that person to death with stones. ⁶The witness of two or three people is required to put someone to death. No one can be put to death because of what only one witness says. It needs the witness of two or three people. ⁷The witnesses must throw the first stones. Then the rest of the people must also throw stones. Get rid of that evil person.

Law Courts

⁸People will bring their cases to your courts. But some cases will be too hard for you to judge. They might be about murders, attacks or other crimes. Then take those hard cases to the place the Lord your God will choose. ⁹Go to a priest, who is a Levite. And go to the judge who is in office at that time. Ask them for their decision. They will give it to you.

¹⁰They’ll hand down their decisions at the place the Lord will choose. You must do what they decide. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. ¹¹Act in keeping with the laws they teach you. Accept the decisions they give you. Don’t turn away from what they tell you. Don’t turn to the right or the left.

¹²Someone might make fun of the judge. Or he might make fun of the priest who serves the Lord your God at the place he will choose. If the man does that, he must be put to death. Remove that evil person from Israel. ¹³All of the people of Israel will hear about it. And they will be afraid to make fun of a judge or priest again.

Appoint the King the Lord Chooses

¹⁴You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. You will take it as your own. You will settle down in it. When you do, you will say, “Let’s appoint a king over us, just like all of the nations around us.” ¹⁵When that happens, make sure you appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own people. Don’t appoint over you someone from another country. Don’t choose anyone who isn’t from one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶The king must not get large numbers of horses for himself. He must not make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The Lord has told you, “You must not go back there again.”

¹⁷The king must not have a lot of wives. If he does, he will be led down the wrong path. He must not store up large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must make himself a copy of the law I’m teaching you. He must write it on a scroll. He must copy it from the scroll of a priest, who is a Levite.

¹⁹The king must keep the scroll close to him at all times. He must read it all the days of his life. Then he can learn to have respect for the Lord his God. He can carefully follow all of the words of that law and those rules. ²⁰He won’t think of himself as being better than his people are. He won’t turn away from the law. He won’t turn to the right or the left. Then he and his sons after him will rule over his kingdom in Israel for a long time.

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18The priests, who are Levites, won’t receive any part of the land of Israel. That also applies to the whole tribe of Levi. They will eat the offerings that are made to the Lord with fire. That will be their share. ²They won’t have any part of the land the Lord gave the other tribes in Israel. The Lord himself is their share, just as he promised them.

³Anyone who sacrifices a bull or a sheep owes a share of it to the priests. Their share is the shoulder, jaws and inside parts. ⁴You must give the priests the first share of the harvest of your grain, olive oil and fresh wine. You must also give them the first wool you clip from your sheep. ⁵The Lord your God has chosen the Levites and their sons after them to serve him in his name always. He hasn’t chosen priests from any of your other tribes.

⁶Sometimes a Levite will move from the town in Israel where he’s living. And he will come to the place the Lord will choose. He’ll do it because he really wants to. ⁷Then he can serve in the name of the Lord his God. He’ll be like all of the other Levites who serve the Lord there. ⁸He must have an equal share of the good things they have. That applies even if he has already received money by selling things his family owned.

Practices the Lord Hates

⁹You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you do, don’t copy the practices of the nations that are there. The Lord hates those practices.

¹⁰Here are things you must not do. Don’t sacrifice your children in the fire to other gods. Don’t practice any kind of evil magic at all. Don’t use magic to try to explain the meaning of warnings in the sky or of any other signs. Don’t take part in worshiping evil powers. ¹¹Don’t put a spell on anyone. Don’t get messages from those who have died. Don’t talk to the spirits of the dead. Don’t get advice from the dead.

¹²The Lord your God hates it when anyone does those things. The nations that are in the land he’s giving you practice the things he hates. So he will drive out those nations to make room for you. ¹³You must be without blame in the sight of the Lord your God.

The Prophet of the Lord

¹⁴You will take over the nations that are in the land the Lord is giving you. They listen to those who practice all kinds of evil magic. But you belong to the Lord your God. He says you must not do those things.

¹⁵The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people. You must listen to him. ¹⁶At Mount Horeb you asked the Lord…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Deuteronomy 16–19 in Logos