Deuteronomy 13–17

Punishment of Apostates

13“If there arises among you a prophet or a ^adreamer of dreams, ^band he gives you a sign or a wonder, ²and ^cthe sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God ^dis testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You shall ^ewalk ¹after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and ^fhold fast to Him. ⁵But ^gthat prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^hSo you shall ²put away the evil from your midst.

⁶ⁱ“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, ^jthe wife ³of your bosom, or your friend ^kwho is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, ⁷of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, ⁸you shall ^lnot ⁴consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; ⁹but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to ^mdeath, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹¹So all Israel shall hear and ⁿfear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

^12o“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ¹³⁵‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known—¹⁴then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ⁶abomination was committed among you, ¹⁵you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and ⁷completely ^pburn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^qa ⁸heap forever; it shall not be built again. ^17rSo none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^sturn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ⁹multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^tto keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Improper Mourning

14“You are ^athe children of the Lord your God; ^byou shall not cut yourselves nor ¹shave the front of your head for the dead. ^2cFor you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Meat

^3d“You shall not eat any ²detestable thing. ^4eThese are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ³mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals. ⁷Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. ⁸Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh ^for touch their dead carcasses.

^9g“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. ¹⁰And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹“All clean birds you may eat. ^12hBut these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, ¹³the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; ¹⁴every raven after its kind; ¹⁵the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds; ¹⁶the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, ¹⁷the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, ¹⁸the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹“Also ⁱevery ⁴creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; ^jthey shall not be eaten.

²⁰“You may eat all clean birds.

^21k“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; ^lfor you are a holy people to the Lord your God.

^m“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithing Principles

²²ⁿ“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. ^23oAnd you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of ^pthe firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or ^qif the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, ²⁵then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall ^rrejoice, you and your household. ²⁷You shall not ⁵forsake the ^sLevite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

^28t“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the ^utithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. ²⁹And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years

15“At the end of ^aevery seven years you shall grant a ¹release of debts. ²And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall ²release it; he shall not ³require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. ³Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, ⁴except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly ^bbless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance—⁵only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. ⁶For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; ^cyou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Generosity to the Poor

⁷“If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the ⁴gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^dyou shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, ⁸but ^eyou shall ⁵open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. ⁹Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your ^feye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and ^ghe cry out to the Lord against you, and ^hit become sin among you. ¹⁰You shall surely give to him, and ⁱyour heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because ^jfor this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ¹¹For ^kthe poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall ⁶open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12l“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^msold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³And when you ⁷send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has ⁿblessed you with, you shall give to him. ^15oYou shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. ¹⁶And ^pif it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, ¹⁷then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. ¹⁸It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth ^qa double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals

^19r“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall ⁸sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. ^20sYou and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. ^21tBut if…