The Passover Reviewed

16 “Observe the amonth of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for bin the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and cthe herd, in the dplace where the Lord chooses to put His name. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; eseven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may fremember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 gAnd no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until hmorning.

5 “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you; 6 but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover iat twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall roast and eat it jin the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and kon the seventh day there shall be a 1sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

The Feast of Weeks Reviewed

9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 10 Then you shall keep the lFeast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give mas the Lord your God blesses you. 11 nYou shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 12 oAnd you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed

13 p“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And qyou shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your 2gates. 15 rSeven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

16 s“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and tthey shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, uaccording to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

Justice Must Be Administered

18 “You shall appoint vjudges and officers in all your 3gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 wYou shall not pervert justice; xyou shall not 4show partiality, ynor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and 5twists the words of the righteous. 20 You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may zlive and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

21 a“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a 6wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. 22 bYou shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

17 “You ashall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any 1blemish or defect, for that is an 2abomination to the Lord your God.

2 b“If there is found among you, within any of your 3gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, cin transgressing His covenant, 3 who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either dthe sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, ewhich I have not commanded, 4 fand it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an 4abomination has been committed in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and gshall stone hto death that man or woman with stones. 6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three iwitnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among jyou.

8 k“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the lplace which the Lord your God chooses. 9 And myou shall come to the priests, the Levites, and nto the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; othey shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 Now pthe man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 qAnd all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

Principles Governing Kings

14 “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, r‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you swhom the Lord your God chooses; one tfrom among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply uhorses for himself, nor cause the people vto return to Egypt to multiply horses, for wthe Lord has said to you, x‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and ygold for himself.

18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one zbefore the priests, the Levites. 19 And ait shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not 5be lifted above his brethren, that he bmay not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may 6prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

18 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have 1no part nor ainheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. 2 Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.

3 “And this shall be the priest’s bdue 2from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. 4 cThe firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For dthe Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes eto stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

6 “So if a Levite comes from any of your 3gates, from where he fdwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind gto the place which the Lord chooses, 7 then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God has all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. 8 They shall have equal iportions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

9 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, jyou shall not learn to follow the 4abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter kpass 5through the fire, lor one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 mor one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or none who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are 6an abomination to the Lord, and obecause of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be 7blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not 8appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

15 p“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb qin the day of the assembly, saying, r‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

17 “And the Lord said to me: s‘What they have spoken is good. 18 tI will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and uwill put My words in His mouth, vand He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 wAnd it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He