11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments 1 at all times. 11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking 2 to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments 3 of the Lord your God, which revealed 4 his greatness, strength, and power. 5 11:3 They did not see 6 the awesome deeds he performed 7 in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land, 11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea 8 overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he 9 annihilated them. 10 11:5 They did not see 11 what he did to you in the desert before you reached this place, 11:6 or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, 12 sons of Eliab the Reubenite, 13 when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp 14 and swallowed them, their families, 15 their tents, and all the property they brought with them. 16 11:7 I am speaking to you 17 because you are the ones who saw all the great deeds of the Lord!
11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments 18 I am giving 19 you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 20 11:9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors 21 and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 11:10 For the land where you are headed 22 is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand 23 like a vegetable garden. 11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy 24 is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, 25 11:12 a land the Lord your God looks after. 26 He is constantly attentive to it 27 from the beginning to the end of the year. 28 11:13 Now, if you pay close attention 29 to my commandments that I am giving you today and love 30 the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, 31 11:14 then he promises, 32 “I will send rain for your land 33 in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, 34 so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. 11:15 I will provide pasture 35 for your livestock and you will eat your fill.”
11:16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! 36 11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt 37 against you and he will close up the sky 38 so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed 39 from the good land that the Lord 40 is about to give you. 11:18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, 41 and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols 42 on your forehead. 11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, 43 as you lie down, and as you get up. 11:20 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates 11:21 so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land which the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself. 44 11:22 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments 45 I am giving you 46 and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, 47 and remain loyal to him, 11:23 then he 48 will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 11:24 Every place you set your foot 49 will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea. 50 11:25 Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord your God will spread the fear and terror of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.
11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 51 11:27 the blessing if you take to heart 52 the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 11:28 and the curse if you pay no attention 53 to his 54 commandments and turn from the way I am setting before 55 you today to pursue 56 other gods you have not known. 11:29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess, you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 57 11:30 Are they not across the Jordan River, 58 toward the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal 59 near the oak 60 of Moreh? 11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it. 11:32 Be certain to keep all the statutes and ordinances that I am presenting to you today.
12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, 61 has given you to possess. 62 12:2 You must by all means destroy 63 all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. 64 12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 65 burn up their sacred Asherah poles, 66 and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place. 12:4 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they worship. 12:5 But you must seek only the place he 67 chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, 68 and you must go there. 12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, 69 your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 12:7 Both you and your families 70 must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he 71 has blessed you. 12:8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone 72 doing what seems best to him, 12:9 for you have not yet come to the final stop 73 and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River 74 and settle in the land he 75 is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. 76 12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing 77 everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, 78 and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. 79 12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages 80 (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). 81 12:13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 12:14 for you may do so 82 only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. 83
12:15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you 84 in all your villages. 85 Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. 12:16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 12:18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he 86 chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites 87 in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. 88 12:19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.
12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” 89 you may do so as you wish. 90 12:21 If the place he 91 chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he 92 has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages 93 just as you wish. 12:22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. 12:23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself 94 – you must not eat the life with the meat! 12:24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. 12:25 You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight. 95 12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose. 96 12:27 You must offer your burnt offerings, both meat and blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices 97 you must pour out on his 98 altar while you eat the meat. 12:28 Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
12:29 When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land. 99 12:30 After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.” 12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! 100 For everything that is abhorrent 101 to him, 102 everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!
12:32 (13:1) 103 You 104 must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! 105 13:1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams 106 should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, 107 13:2 and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods” – gods whom you have not previously known – “and let us serve them.” 13:3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, 108 for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him 109 with all your mind and being. 110 13:4 You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him. 13:5 As for that prophet or dreamer, 111 he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. 112
13:6 Suppose your own full brother, 113 your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods 114 that neither you nor your ancestors 115 have previously known, 116 13:7 the gods of the surrounding people (whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth 117 to the other). 13:8 You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him. 13:9 Instead, you must kill him without fail! 118 Your own hand must be the first to strike him, 119 and then the hands of the whole community. 13:10 You must stone him to death 120 because he tried to entice you away from the Lord your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. 13:11 Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you. 121
13:12 Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13:13 some evil people 122 have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, 123 saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 124 13:14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 125 13:15 you must by all means 126 slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate 127 with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza 128 and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin 129 forever – it must never be rebuilt again. 13:17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. 130 Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors. 13:18 Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving 131 you today and doing what is right 132 before him. 133
14:1 You are children 134 of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald 135 for the sake of the dead. 14:2 For you are a people holy 136 to the Lord your God. He 137 has chosen you to be his people, prized 138 above all others on the face of the earth. 14:3 You must not eat any forbidden 139 thing. 14:4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 14:5 the ibex, 140 the gazelle, 141 the deer, 142 the wild goat, the antelope, 143 the wild oryx, 144 and the mountain sheep. 145 14:6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud. 146 14:7 However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. 147 (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you). 14:8 Also the pig is ritually impure to you; though it has divided hooves, 148 it does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat or even touch their remains. 14:9 These you may eat from among water creatures: anything with fins and scales you may eat, 14:10 but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you. 14:11 All ritually clean birds you may eat. 14:12 These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, 149 the vulture, 150 the black vulture, 151 14:13 the kite, the black kite, the dayyah 152 after its species, 14:14 every raven after its species, 14:15 the ostrich, 153 the owl, 154 the seagull, the falcon 155 after its species, 14:16 the little owl, the long-eared owl, the white owl, 156 14:17 the jackdaw, 157 the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 14:18 the stork, the heron after its species, the hoopoe, the bat, 14:19 and any winged thing on the ground are impure to you – they may not be eaten. 158 14:20 You may eat any clean bird. 14:21 You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages 159 and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. 160
14:22 You must be certain to tithe 161 all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year. 14:23 In the presence of the Lord your God you must eat from the tithe of your grain, your new wine, 162 your olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the place he chooses to locate his name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 14:24 When he 163 blesses you, if the 164 place where he chooses to locate his name is distant, 14:25 you may convert the tithe into money, secure the money, 165 and travel to the place the Lord your God chooses for himself. 14:26 Then you may spend the money however you wish for cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and enjoy it. 14:27 As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you. 14:28 At the end of every three years you must bring all the tithe of your produce, in that very year, and you must store it up in your villages. 14:29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.
15:1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation 166 of debts. 15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; 167 he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, 168 for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.” 15:3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite 169 owes you, you must remit. 15:4 However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord 170 will surely bless 171 you in the land that he 172 is giving you as an inheritance, 173 15:5 if you carefully obey 174 him 175 by keeping 176 all these commandments that I am giving 177 you today. 15:6 For the Lord your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you.
15:7 If a fellow Israelite 178 from one of your villages 179 in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive 180 to his impoverished condition. 181 15:8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend 182 him whatever he needs. 183 15:9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude 184 be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite 185 and you do not lend 186 him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. 187 15:10 You must by all means lend 188 to him and not be upset by doing it, 189 for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. 15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open 190 your hand to your fellow Israelites 191 who are needy and poor in your land.
15:12 If your fellow Hebrew 192 – whether male or female 193 – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant 194 go free. 195 15:13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. 15:14 You must supply them generously 196 from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today. 15:16 However, if the servant 197 says to you, “I do not want to leave 198 you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, 15:17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. 199 Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well). 15:18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice 200 the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
15:19 You must set apart 201 for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 15:20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he 202 chooses. 15:21 If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else 203 – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 15:22 You may eat it in your villages, 204 whether you are ritually impure or clean, 205 just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. 15:23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.