Deuteronomy 12-28

New Catholic Bible

The Deuteronomic Code^[a]

Chapter 12

One Place of Worship.^{[b] 1} These are the statutes and the decrees that you must be careful to observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you as an inheritance for the whole time that you live upon the earth. ² You must totally destroy all the places where the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, whether they be on the high mountains or upon the hills or under every green tree. ³ You are to overturn their altars and break their sacred pillars. You must burn their wooden idols in fires, you must cut down their carved idols and obliterate their names from that place. ⁴ This is not the way that you are to worship the Lord, your God.

⁵ You are to seek out the place that the Lord, your God, has chosen from among all the tribes to be where you shall place his name and establish his dwelling. This is where you are to go ⁶ to bring your burnt offering, your sacrifices, your tithes, your wave offerings, what you have vowed to give as a freewill offering, and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. ⁷ There you and your families will eat before the Lord, your God, and you shall rejoice at everything you have put your hand to, for the Lord, your God, will have blessed you. ⁸ You are not to do things the way we do them today, that each person does as he sees fit, ⁹ for you have not yet come to your resting place, the inheritance that the Lord, your God, is giving you. ¹⁰ But when you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving to you as an inheritance, a place where he will give you peace from all the enemies who surround you so that you can live in safety, ¹¹ then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord, your God, will have chosen for the dwelling place of his name: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your wave offerings, and all of your choice vow offerings that you have vowed onto the Lord. ¹² You and your sons and daughters, your menservants and your maidservants, and the Levite who lives in your town (for he has no claim to your inheritance) will rejoice before the Lord, your God.

¹³ Make sure that you do not offer burnt offerings any place you might happen to see, ¹⁴ but you are to offer burnt offerings in the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes. There you are to fulfill all that I command you to do.

¹⁵ Permissible Slaughter. Nevertheless, you can slaughter animals and eat meat within your town gates with the blessing that the Lord, your God, gives you, as much as you desire. The clean and the unclean may eat of it, the gazelle and the roebuck alike. ¹⁶ Only you are not to consume its blood; you are to pour it on the ground as if it were water.^[c]

¹⁷ You are not to eat the following things within your town gates: the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil, the firstborn of the herds or flocks, any of the vow offerings you have offered with a vow, any freewill offering and any wave offering. ¹⁸ You are to eat these before the Lord, your God, in the place that the Lord, your God, will have chosen, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, and the Levite who lives in your town. You are to rejoice before the Lord, your God, in all of your undertakings.

¹⁹ Take heed not to forsake the Levite for as long as you live in the land. ²⁰ When the Lord, your God, enlarges your boundaries, as he has promised that he will do, and you say to yourself, “I am going to eat some meat,”^[d] because you feel like eating some meat, you can eat as much meat as you desire.

²¹ If the place that the Lord, your God, will have chosen to put his name is too far from where you are living, you can kill any animal from the herd or the flock that the Lord has given you, just as I have instructed you. You can eat as much as you want of it within your town gates. ²² You can eat them like you would eat the gazelle or the roebuck. Both the unclean and the clean can eat of it. ²³ Only be careful that you do not consume the blood, for the blood is its life. You are not to eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You are not to consume the blood; you are to pour it on the ground as if it were water. ²⁵ You are not to eat it, so that things may turn out well for you and your children after you, for you will be doing the right thing from the Lord’s point of view.

²⁶ Take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place that the Lord has chosen. ²⁷ Present your burnt offerings, both the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord, your God. You are to pour the blood out on the altar of the Lord, your God, but you can eat the meat. ²⁸ Take heed to observe all of the things that I have commanded you, that things may go well with you and your children forever, when you do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, your God. ²⁹ The Lord, your God, will cut down the nations of the place where you are going before you so that you can dispossess them. When you take their place and settle in their land ³⁰ and they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by asking questions about their gods such as, “How did these nations serve their gods? We should do the same thing as they did.” ³¹ You shall not do these things to the Lord, your God. They have worshiped their gods with every kind of abomination that the Lord hates. They have even offered their sons and daughters as burnt sacrifices to their gods.

Chapter 13

Punishing False Prophets. ¹ Do whatever I command you to do. Do not add anything to it, nor ignore anything from it.

² If a prophet or one who foretells the future through dreams arises among you and performs some miraculous sign or wonder ³ and that miraculous sign or wonder occurs, and he says to you, “Let us seek after other gods which we have not previously known and serve them,” ⁴ you are not to listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams.^[e] The Lord, your God, is testing you to see whether you love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and your soul. ⁵ It is the Lord, your God, whom you are to follow. You must fear him and observe his commandments and obey what he tells you and serve him and hold fast to him. ⁶ But that prophet or the one who told the future through dreams is to be put to death for he counseled you to turn away from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. He was driving you away from the way that the Lord, your God, had ordered must be your path. You must purge this evil from your midst.

^7 [f]Even if your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife, or your closest friend secretly tempts you saying, “Let us go and serve other gods whom neither you nor your forefathers have known,” ⁸ the gods of the people living around us, whether they be near or far, wherever they are upon the whole face of the earth, ⁹ you are not to agree to do this with him or even listen to him. You must show him no pity, you should not spare or conceal him. ¹⁰ You must put him to death. You must be the first to lay hands on him to put him to death, and then all of the people after you. ¹¹ Stone him to death! He sought to turn you away from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹² Then all of Israel will hear of this and be filled with fear, and no one will ever do such an evil thing again in your midst.

¹³ If you hear it said that in one of the cities that the Lord, your God, has given you to live in ¹⁴ there are evil men who have come out from among you and who have misled the inhabitants of the city saying, “Let us go and serve other gods whom we have not previously known,” ¹⁵ then you will inquire, and probe, and investigate it thoroughly. If it is clearly proven that this detestable thing has been done among you, ¹⁶ you are to put the inhabitants of that city to the sword and you are to demolish it. Destroy everything in it, even killing the cattle with the edge of the sword. ¹⁷ Gather all of the plunder from it in the middle of its streets, and burn the city and all the spoil in it to the ground. It is to be like a burnt offering to the Lord, your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. ¹⁸ You are not to hold on to any of those cursed things, so that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will have compassion on you, and make you numerous, as he promised your fathers, ¹⁹ for you will have heeded the voice of the Lord, your God, and observed all of the commandments that I gave you today and done what the Lord, your God, considered to be right.

Chapter 14

¹ You are the children of the Lord, your God. Do not slash yourselves nor shave the front of your heads on account of the dead.^{[g] 2} You are a people who are holy to the Lord, your God, and the Lord has picked you out from among all the peoples on the earth to be a chosen people.

Clean and Unclean Food.^{[h] 3} You are not to eat any abominable thing. ⁴ These are the animals that you can eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the gazelle, the roebuck, the deer, the wild goat, the antelope, the wild ox, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ Every animal that has a cleft hoof, its hoof is divided in two parts, and that chews its cud is an animal that you can eat. ⁷ However, there are animals that chew their cud, or that have a cleft hoof that you cannot eat: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, for they chew their cud but do not have a cleft hoof, so they are unclean for you. ⁸ Likewise, pigs have a cleft hoof, but they do not chew their cud, so they are unclean for you. You are not to eat their meat, nor even touch their dead carcasses.

⁹ You can eat any water creature that has fins and scales; those you can eat. ¹⁰ Whatever does not have fins or scales, you are not to eat. It is unclean for you.

¹¹ You can eat any clean bird. ¹² These are the birds you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the osprey, ¹³ the hawk, the kite, any type of vulture, ¹⁴ any kind of raven, ¹⁵ the owl, the night hawk, the gull, any type of falcon, ¹⁶ the little owl, the great owl, the barn owl, ¹⁷ the desert owl, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, any type of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat. ¹⁹ Every type of flying insect is unclean for you. You shall not eat it, ²⁰ but you can eat any type of clean bird.

²¹ Do not eat anything that died on its own. You can give it to a foreigner who is living in your town, and he can eat it, or you can sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people who are holy to the Lord, your God. You shall not eat a kid goat boiled in its mother’s milk.^[i]

²² Tithes.^[j]Each year you are to tithe the yield of your seed that has grown in the field. ²³ This is what you shall eat in the presence of the Lord, your God, in the place that he has established that his name be placed: the tithe of your grain, wine, and oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock. This will be a lesson to fear the Lord, your God, always. ²⁴ If the distance is so great that you cannot carry it to the place that the Lord, your God, has chosen to set his name, and the Lord, your God, has blessed you, ²⁵ then you shall exchange it for money, and carry the money to the place that the Lord, your God, has chosen. ²⁶ You can use that money to buy whatever you wish, oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, whatever you wish. You and your family will consume it in the presence of the Lord, your God, and you will rejoice.

²⁷ You are not to neglect the Levite who lives in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you. ^28 [k]Every third year you are to bring all of your tithes from your produce for that year and you will deposit them in your town. ²⁹ The Levite, who has no portion nor inheritance among you, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your town will consume it until they are full. Thus, the Lord, your God, will bless you in every endeavor you pursue.

Chapter 15

Goodwill to the Poor.^{[l] 1} At the end of every seven years you are to cancel debts. ² This is how you are to do it. Everyone who has made a loan to his neighbor will forgive the debt. He will not require payment from his neighbor nor his brother, for the Lord’s pardon of debts has been proclaimed. ³ You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must forgive the debt that your brother owes. ⁴ There should be no poor among you, for the Lord will greatly bless you in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess as an inheritance, ⁵ but only if you carefully heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and observe all of the commandments that I give you today. ⁶ The Lord, your God, will bless you as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none. You shall rule over many nations, but none shall rule over you.

⁷ If there is a poor man among you in the towns of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you, do not harden your heart nor be stingy with your poor brother. ⁸ Be generous with him, lending him what he needs, whatever it is he needs. ⁹ Be careful not to harbor the evil thought in your mind, “The seventh year, the time for canceling debts, is near.” Do not show bad will toward your poor brother and end up giving him nothing. He might appeal to the Lord, and it would be your sin. ¹⁰ You must give to him, and you should not have a grudging heart when you give to him. The Lord, your God, will bless you in all the endeavors that you undertake because of what you have given. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you, “Be generous to your poor brother and the needy in your land.”

¹² Freeing Slaves. If a fellow Hebrew man or woman sells himself to you and serves for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set him free.^{[m] 13} When you release him, you are not to send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴ Provide him generously from your flock, your threshing floor, your winepress. Give to him in the same way that the Lord, your God, has blessed you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, redeemed you. Therefore, I give you this command today.

¹⁶ But if your slave says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, ¹⁷ then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door. He will then be your slave forever. You are to do the same with your maidservants as well. ¹⁸ Do not consider it to be a hardship to set your slave free. You received twice as much from him in the six years as you would have from a hired hand, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in all of your undertakings.

¹⁹ The Firstborn. Set apart for the Lord, your God, the firstborn male from your herds and your flocks. Do not set the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor shear the firstborn of your sheep. ²⁰ Each year you and your family are to eat them before the Lord, your God, in the place that the Lord has chosen. ²¹ If an animal has any blemish, or is lame, or blind, or has any serious flaw, you are not to sacrifice it to the Lord, your God. ²² You can eat it within your own towns.^[n] The clean and the unclean can eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a roebuck. ²³ But you must not consume its blood, you are to pour it out on the ground as if it were water.

Chapter 16

Feast of the Passover.^{[o] 1} Observe the month of Abib,^[p] and celebrate the Passover of the Lord, your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord, your God, brought you forth from Egypt during the night. ² Make a Passover sacrifice from your flock or your herd to the Lord, your God, in the place where the Lord has chosen to place his name. ³ Do not eat leavened bread, but eat unleavened bread for seven days. This is the bread of affliction, for you had to leave the land of Egypt in haste. Thus, all of your life you will remember the day that you came forth from Egypt. ⁴ There should be no leavened bread in your entire land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat of the sacrifice that was made on the first evening remain until the next morning. ^5 [q]You are not to make the Passover sacrifice in any of the towns that the Lord, your God, has given you. ⁶ Do it only in the place that the Lord, your God, has chosen to place his name. You will make the Passover sacrifice in the evening, when the sun goes down, at the time when you went forth out of Egypt. ⁷ Roast the lamb and eat it in the place that the Lord, your God, will choose. Then, in the morning, return to your homes. ⁸ For six days you are to eat unleavened bread. Then, on the seventh day, you will hold a solemn assembly to the Lord, your God, and you are to do no heavy labor.

Feast of Weeks. ⁹ Count off seven weeks from the time that you put the sickle to the standing grain. You are to count off seven weeks, ¹⁰ and then you will celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord, your God, making a freewill offering in proportion to how much the Lord, your God, has blessed you. ¹¹ You and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite who lives in your town, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow are all to rejoice in the place that the Lord, your God, has chosen to place his name. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and carefully observe these statutes.

¹³ Feast of Booths. Celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. ¹⁴ Be joyful at the feast, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, as well as the Levite, the orphans, and the widows who live in your town. ¹⁵ For seven days you are to celebrate the feast to the Lord, your God, in the place that the Lord will choose, for the Lord, your God, has blessed you with all your harvest and all of the works of your hands. Therefore, you must surely rejoice.

¹⁶ Three times a year all of your men must appear before the Lord, your God, in the place that he will choose: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. You are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Each of you is to bring a gift that is proportionate to how much the Lord, your God, has blessed you.

¹⁸ Justice.^[r]Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town that the Lord, your God, gives you. They are to judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Do not pervert justice nor show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. ²⁰ Seek justice, so that you may live in and inherit the land that the Lord, your God, has given you.

²¹ False Worship. Do not plant any sacred grove beside the altar that you will build to the Lord, your God. ²² Do not set up any sacred pillar, for the Lord, your God, hates these things.

Chapter 17

¹ You shall not sacrifice an ox or a sheep that has any blemish or any defect^[s] whatsoever to the Lord, your God, for that would be an abomination to the Lord, your God. ² If any man or woman is discovered in any of the towns that the Lord, your God, has given you who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, transgressing his covenant, ³ going over and serving and worshiping other gods, whether it be the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, something that I have forbidden, ⁴ and you are told about it, and you hear of it, then you shall carefully check into it. If it is true, then an abomination has been committed in Israel; ⁵ you are to bring that man or woman who has done this evil thing to the town gates, and you shall stone that man or woman to death.

⁶ A person can be put to death upon the testimony of two or three witnesses; a person is not to be put to death upon the testimony of a single witness. ⁷ The witnesses will be the first to raise their hand against him to put him to death, then all of the people will raise their hands against him, in order to purge this evil from your midst.

Judges. ⁸ If cases come before you that are too difficult to judge, whether concerning bloodshed, or lawsuits, or assault, then take them to the place that the Lord, your God, will choose. ⁹ Go to the priests, the Levites, and the judge whose term it is, and consult with them. They will give you a verdict. ¹⁰ You must proceed according to the verdict that they will have given you at the place that the Lord will choose. Do everything that they tell you to do. ¹¹ Act according to the law that they teach you and the judgment that they render. Do not turn away from the sentence that they pronounce, either to the right or the left. ¹² The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying either the priest who stands before the Lord, your God, to minister there, or the judge, is to die. In this way you will purge the evil from Israel.^{[t] 13} All the people will hear of it and be filled with fear; they will not act presumptuously anymore.

¹⁴ A Suitable King. When you enter the land that the Lord, your God, has given you and you take possession of it and dwell there and you say, “I will set a king over me like all the other nations that surround me,” ¹⁵ you can indeed have a king whom the Lord, your God, will choose. You will make one of your brethren your king, you are not to choose a foreigner as king who is not one of your brethren. ¹⁶ He must not build up a large stable for himself, and he must not send people back to Egypt to procure a large stable, for the Lord has said that you are not to return that way again. ¹⁷ He should also not have many wives, lest his heart be turned astray. He must not accumulate large sums of silver or gold. ¹⁸ When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of the law that is entrusted to the priests, the Levites for himself on a scroll. ¹⁹ He should read it every day of his life so that he can learn to fear the Lord, his God, and to observe all the words of these laws and statutes, fulfilling them. ²⁰ In this way he will not consider himself to be better than his brethren in his heart, and he will not turn away from the commandments to the right or the left. He and his descendants will thus reign a long time in the kingdom of Israel.

Chapter 18

¹ The priests who are Levites,^[u] in fact, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They can eat from the burnt offerings made to the Lord, that is their inheritance. ² They will have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as he has promised them. ³ This is the portion due to the priest from the people who offer a sacrifice of either an ox or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowl, and the inner organs. ⁴ You will give them the firstfruits of the grain, the wine, and the oil, as well as the first sheering of the sheep ⁵ for the Lord, your God, has chosen him and his sons out of all of the tribes to minister in the Lord’s name forever. ⁶ If any Levite in all of Israel moves from his town where he had been living and he desires to go to the place that the Lord will choose, ⁷ then he may minister in the name of the Lord, his God, like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸ He will be given an equal share in their benefits in addition to the proceeds from the sale of his inheritance.

Forbidden Practices. ⁹ When you enter the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you, you are not to learn to perform the abominations that those nations do. ¹⁰ Let no one among you offer his son or his daughter as a burnt offering, or practice divination, or interpret omens, or practice witchcraft,^{[v] 11} or cast spells, or act as a medium, or act as a wizard, or seek oracles from the dead. ¹² Whoever does any of these things is an abomination to the Lord. It is because of these abominations that the Lord, your God, is driving them out before you.

¹³ You are to be blameless before the Lord, your God. ¹⁴ These nations that you are dispossessing listened to those who practice witchcraft and the diviners. It is not to be that way among you, for the Lord, your God, does not permit it.

¹⁵ Prophets. The Lord, your God, will raise up from among your countrymen a prophet who will do what I have done for you, and you will listen to him. ¹⁶ This is just as you asked the Lord, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let me not hear the voice of the Lord, my God, anymore, nor look upon this great fire, lest I die.” ¹⁷ The Lord said to me, “They have spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen who will be like you. I will place my words in his mouth, and he will tell them all that I command him. ¹⁹ I myself will call to account whoever does not heed my words that he will proclaim in my name. ²⁰ But if a prophet presumes to proclaim something in my name that I have not said to him, or he speaks in the names of other gods, that prophet is to be put to death.” ²¹ You might say to yourself, “How can we know that the Lord did not speak the message?” ²² If what the prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord is not true and it does not happen, then the message was not proclaimed by the Lord. The prophet has spoken presumptuously, you should not fear him.^[w]

Chapter 19

Cities of Refuge. ¹ When the Lord, your God, has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, when you have driven them out and you are dwelling in their cities and houses, ^2 [x]then set aside three cities in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess. ³ Build roads to them, and divide the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance into three parts so that anyone who has killed another can flee to them. ⁴ This is the regulation concerning the one who has killed another and flees there to save his life: one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, who did not previously bear him ill will, ⁵ for example, when a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he is swinging the ax to cut down a tree, and the head of the ax flies off and kills the neighbor. That man may flee to one of the cities to save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the relative who seeks blood vengeance might seek him out while he is still blind with rage, and if the distance be too great he would then be able to catch up with him and kill him even though he did not really deserve to die since he did not bear the man any previous ill will.^{[y] 7} This is why I command you to set aside three cities for yourselves.

⁸ If the Lord, your God, adds to your territory, as he promised to do to your ancestors, and he gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers, ⁹ for you have carefully observed all the commandments that I have given you today, to love the Lord, your God, and always walk in his ways, then you will set aside another three cities beside the first three. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood not be shed in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance. Thus, you will not be guilty of bloodshed. ¹¹ But if a man bears ill will toward his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and jumps out at him and grievously wounds him so that he dies, and then he flees to one of these cities, ¹² the elders of his town will send after him, bring him back, and hand him over to the relative who seeks blood vengeance so that he might be put to death. ¹³ Show him no pity. You must purge the guilt of shedding innocent blood from your midst so that things may go well with you.

¹⁴ Removing Landmarks. Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone that was set up long ago to mark your inheritance in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess.

¹⁵ Witnesses. One witness is not enough to convict someone of any crime or any offense that he might have committed. The matter is to be decided by the testimony of two or three witnesses. ¹⁶ If a false witness arises to accuse another of a crime, ¹⁷ the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges who are fulfilling their term. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation. If a witness proves to be a liar, having falsely testified against another, ¹⁹ then whatever would have been done to the other is to be done to him. You must purge this evil from your midst. ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear of this and be filled with fear and no one will ever do such an evil thing in your midst again. ²¹ Show no pity: a life for a life,^[z] an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a foot for a foot.

Chapter 20

Rules of Battle. ¹ When you go out to fight your enemies and you see horses and chariots and more troops than you have, do not be afraid of them on account of the Lord, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. ² When you are about to go into battle, have the priest approach and speak to the people. ³ He is to say to them, “Hear, O Israel, you are about to go into battle today against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid. Do not tremble or panic before them. ⁴ The Lord, your God, goes forth with you to fight against your enemies to deliver you.” ⁵ The officers will then say to the people: “If anyone has built a house and not yet dedicated it, he is to go home lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. ⁶ And if anyone has planted a vineyard and has not yet enjoyed its fruit, let him go home lest he die in battle and another eat its fruit. ⁷ And if anyone has become betrothed to a woman and has not yet married her, let him go home lest he die in battle and another marry her.”^{[aa] 8} Even then the officers will say to the people, “If anyone is fearful or fainthearted, let him go home lest his brethren become fainthearted as well.”

⁹ When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they are to appoint commanders to lead the people. ¹⁰ When you approach a city to do battle with it, offer it terms of peace. ¹¹ If they accept your terms of peace and open their gates to you, then all the people who live there shall be subject to forced labor done on your behalf. ¹² If they refuse your terms of peace, then you will do battle with them, besieging that city. ¹³ When the Lord, your God, delivers it into your hands, you shall put every man in it to death. ¹⁴ The women, the children, the cattle, and everything else in the city will be plunder to you. You may take as your own the spoil of your enemies that the Lord, your God, has delivered over to you.

¹⁵ This is how you are to deal with all the distant cities, the cities that do not belong to these nations. ¹⁶ But in these cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, you are not to leave anything alive. ¹⁷ Wipe them out, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as the Lord, your God, has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise they will teach you to perform the abominations that they practice when they worship their gods, and you would be sinning against the Lord, your God.

¹⁹ Preserving Trees. When you besiege a city and it lasts a long time, and you do battle with it and capture it, do not cut down its trees with an ax, for you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down! Are trees in the field like people that you would lay siege to them? ²⁰ However, you can cut down those trees that are not fruit trees to use on the siege-works until the city you are fighting falls.

Chapter 21

Sacrifice for Untraceable Killing.^{[ab] 1} If the body of a dead man is found lying on the ground of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ² have your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. ³ The elders of the town that is nearest to the body are to take a heifer that has never worked nor worn a yoke. ⁴ The elders of that town will then lead it down to a valley with a flowing stream that has not been plowed nor planted. In that valley they are to slit the heifer’s throat. ⁵ The priests, the sons of Levi, will then come forward, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all disputes and cases of assault. ⁶ The elders of the town that is nearest to the body will wash their hands^[ac] over the heifer whose throat had been slit in the valley, ⁷ and they will proclaim, “Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it shed. ⁸ Accept this atonement for your people Israel, O Lord, whom you have redeemed, and do not hold your people responsible for the shedding of innocent blood.” This shall atone for the bloodshed. ⁹ In this way you will have purged yourself of the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you will have done what is right in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁰ Marrying a Female Captive. When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your hands and you take them captive, ¹¹ if you see a beautiful woman among them and you desire her, you can take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your house, and have her shave her head and trim her nails ¹³ and have her throw out the clothes she was wearing when she was taken captive. She is to live in your house for a full month and mourn her father and her mother. Then you may go to her and be her husband and she will be your wife. ¹⁴ If you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. You are not to sell her or treat her like a slave, for you have already humbled her.

¹⁵ Law of the Firstborn.^[ad] If a man has two wives, and he loves one and dislikes the other, and they both bear him children, both the one who is loved and the one who is disliked, and the son of the one who is disliked is the firstborn, ¹⁶ then when he gives his inheritance to his sons, he is not to give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the woman he loves in preference to the true firstborn, the son of the woman he dislikes. ¹⁷ He must acknowledge the son of the woman whom he disliked as the firstborn, giving him a double portion of everything that he owned. That son is the first sign of his strength, and the right of firstborn belongs to him.

¹⁸ Punishing a Rebellious Son. If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to his father or his mother, and will not heed them even when he is disciplined, ¹⁹ then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the town gate. ²⁰ They are to say to the town elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not listen to us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of that town will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from your midst. All of Israel will hear of it and be filled with fear.

²² Burying a Criminal.^[ae] If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hanging from a tree, ²³ you are not to leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that day, for anyone who is hung from a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.

Chapter 22

Helping Your Neighbor. ¹ If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away, do not ignore it, but take it back to your neighbor. ² If your neighbor does not live nearby or you do not know whose animal it is, take it to your own home and keep it there until your neighbor comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. ³ You are to do the same if you find his donkey or his cloak or anything that your neighbor loses. You are not to ignore it. ⁴ If you see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fall on the road, do not ignore it. Help him to get it up again.

Incidental Rules. ⁵ A woman is not to wear a man’s clothing, nor is a man to wear a woman’s clothing. The Lord, your God, detests all who do such things.^[af]

⁶ If you come across a bird’s nest with young ones or eggs along the way, either in a tree or lying on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting upon the young ones or the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. ⁷ You can take the young ones, but let the mother go, so that things may go well with you and you may live a long life.

⁸ When you build a new house, place a parapet around your roof so that you do not bring blood guilt upon your house if anyone should fall from it.

⁹ You should not plant two different types of seed in your vineyard. If you do, the fruit of the seed you planted and the fruit in your vineyard will both be defiled.

¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

¹¹ Do not wear clothing made of wool and linen woven together.

¹² You are to make fringes on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.^[ag]

¹³ Rules for Sexual Relationships. If a man takes a woman and has sex with her, but then he grows to hate her ¹⁴ and he charges her with shameful deeds and publicly defames her name saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her I discovered that she was not a virgin,” ¹⁵ have the father and mother of the young woman give proof of the young woman’s virginity to the elders at the town gate.^{[ah] 16} The young woman’s father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and he has grown to hate her. ¹⁷ Now he has slandered her saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ Here is proof of my daughter’s virginity.” They will then spread the cloth out before the elders. ¹⁸ The elders will take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman because this man defamed the name of one of the virgins of Israel. She will continue to be his wife, and he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. ²⁰ If, however, the charge is true and there is no proof of the young woman’s virginity, ²¹ she is to be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of the town will stone her to death. She did a disgraceful thing in Israel, committing fornication in her father’s house. You must purge this evil from your midst.^[ai]

²² If a man is discovered sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with the woman and the woman must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

²³ If a man encounters a young woman who is betrothed to another man and he sleeps with her, ²⁴ you shall take both of them to the city gate and stone them to death, the young woman because she was inside of the city and did not cry out, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

²⁵ But if a man encounters a young woman betrothed to another man in the countryside and he overcomes her and has sex with her, then only the man who has done this is to die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the young woman, for she has not committed a sin deserving death. This matter is just like when a man attacks and murders his neighbor, ²⁷ for the man found the young woman in the countryside, and though the betrothed might have screamed out, there was no one there to rescue her.

²⁸ If a man encounters a young woman who is a virgin but she is not betrothed, and he overcomes her and has sex with her and they are discovered, ²⁹ he must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her, and he can never divorce her for as long as he lives.

Chapter 23

¹ A man shall not marry his father’s wife; he is not to dishonor his father’s bed.^[aj]

Membership Exclusions. ² No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting can enter the assembly of the Lord.^{[ak] 3} No one who is illegitimate^[al] can enter the assembly of the Lord, nor can his descendants to the tenth generation enter the assembly of the Lord. ⁴ No Ammonite or Moabite can enter the assembly of the Lord, even their descendants to the tenth generation cannot enter the assembly of the Lord ⁵ for they did not greet you with bread and water as you were on your way when you came forth out of Egypt. They hired Balaam, the son of Beor who came from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. ⁶ However, the Lord, your God, would not listen to Balaam. The Lord, your God, turned a curse upon you into a blessing, for the Lord, your God, loved you. ⁷ Do not establish a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

⁸ Do not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not detest an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner in his land. ⁹ The third generation of children born to them can enter the assembly of the Lord.

¹⁰ Camp Sanitation. When you are encamped against your enemies, stay away from everything that is impure. ¹¹ If one of your men among you is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, let him move outside of the camp. He is not to enter the camp. ¹² When evening arrives, he is to wash himself with water, and he can come back inside of the camp.

¹³ Designate a place outside of the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹⁴ You shall have an implement with your equipment so that when you relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and cover over your excrement.

¹⁵ The Lord, your God, walks among you in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies up to you, so your camp must be holy, lest he see something unclean among you and turn away from you.

¹⁶ Incidental Rules. If a slave has taken refuge from his master with you, you are not to hand him over to his master. ¹⁷ Let him live with you wherever he chooses, in whatever town he chooses. You are not to oppress him.

¹⁸ No Israelite woman is to become a sacred prostitute, nor is an Israelite man to be a sacred prostitute. ¹⁹ You are not to bring the wages of a female prostitute or a male prostitute^[am] into the shrine of the Lord, your God, to pay for any vow. Both of these are abominations to the Lord, your God.

^20 [an]Do not charge your brother interest, whether it be on money or food or anything else that could earn interest. ²¹ You can charge a foreigner interest, but you cannot charge a brother interest. For this you will be blessed by the Lord, your God, in everything that you undertake in the land that you are entering to possess.

²² If you make a vow to the Lord, your God, do not be lax in paying it off, for the Lord, your God, will certainly require it of you, and you would be guilty of a sin. ²³ But if you fail to make a vow, there is no sin. ²⁴ Whatever your lips utter, you must do, for you have vowed a freewill offering to the Lord, your God, with your own mouth.

²⁵ If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat as many grapes as you want, but you are not to put any in a basket. ²⁶ If you enter your neighbor’s grain fields, you can pluck the kernels with your hands, but you are not to take a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

Chapter 24

Marriage Laws.^{[ao] 1} If a man marries a woman, and after they are married she becomes displeasing to him because he has discovered something indecent about her, and he writes a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand, and he sends her forth from his house, ² then after she has left his house, she can become the wife of another man. ³ If this second husband is displeased with her and writes her a bill of divorce and he puts it in her hand and he sends her forth from his house, or if the second man who took her to be his wife should die, ⁴ then her first husband who had sent her away cannot take her back to be his wife again, for she has been defiled. This would be an abomination to the Lord. You shall not cause the sin to come upon the land that the Lord, your God, is giving to you as an inheritance.

⁵ If a man has recently been married, he is not to go off to battle nor have any other duty laid on him. He will be free to stay at home for one year so that he can bring happiness to the wife whom he has married.

Additional Laws. ⁶ Do not take a lower or upper millstone as a pledge against a debt, for that would mean that you were taking the man’s livelihood as a pledge.^[ap]

⁷ If anyone kidnaps one of his fellow Israelites, mistreating him and selling him, then that kidnapper is to be put to death, and you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁸ During an outbreak of leprosy, take heed to observe and carefully fulfill all that the priests, the Levites, tell you to do. Observe what they command of you and do it. ⁹ Remember what the Lord, your God, did to Miriam on the way after you came up out of Egypt.

¹⁰ Be willing to lend your brother anything, and do not go to his house to obtain his pledge against the loan. ¹¹ Stand outside his house, and the man to whom you made the loan will bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If a man is poor, you are not to keep his pledge overnight. ¹³ You are to return his pledge to him when the sun goes down so that he can sleep in his own garment and bless you. This is righteous to the Lord, your God.

¹⁴ You shall not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he be one of your brethren or a foreigner who lives on the land within your town gates. ¹⁵ You are to give him his wages on the same day before the sun goes down, for he is poor and he has his heart set on it. Otherwise he might cry out against you to the Lord and it would be your sin.

¹⁶ Fathers are not to be put to death in the place of their sons, nor are sons to be put to death in place of their fathers. Each man is to be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷ You are not to pervert justice toward a foreigner or an orphan, nor are you to take a widow’s garment as a pledge against a loan. ¹⁸ Remember that you were once a slave in Egypt and the Lord, your God, redeemed you from there. This is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you reap a harvest in the field and you miss a sheaf of grain, do not turn around to take it. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Then you will be blessed by the Lord, your God, in all of your undertakings. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, do not go back over the branches a second time. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest grapes in your vineyard, do not go back over it a second time. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. ²² Remember that you were once a slave in the land of Egypt. This is why I command you to do this.

Chapter 25

Restricted Punishment. ¹ If there is a dispute between men and they take it to court for the judges to decide, let them proclaim as innocent the righteous and as guilty the wrongdoer. ² If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, then the judge will have him lay down and beaten in front of him, giving him the number of lashes that his crime deserves. ³ He can be given up to forty lashes, but no more than that, for if he is given more than that, your brother might be shamed in your sight.

⁴ Do not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.^[aq]

Family Marriage.^{[ar] 5} If brothers are living together, and one of them dies without having a son, then the widow of the deceased is not to marry outside of the family. Her husband’s brother will take her as his wife and thus perform the duty of her husband’s brother. ⁶ The first son will bear the name of the deceased brother, so his name not be extinguished in Israel. ⁷ However, if the man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, let the brother’s wife go to the elders of the town at the gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to ensure the continuance of his brother in Israel. He will not perform the duty expected of a husband’s brother.” ⁸ Then the elders of the town will summon him and speak to him. If he continues to say, “I will not marry her,” ⁹ then the brother’s widow will come up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his shoes from his feet, and spit in his face saying, “This is what a man deserves who will not build a house for his brother.” ¹⁰ His family will be known as “the family of the unsandaled one” in Israel.

¹¹ Incidental Rules. If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them comes forward to try to rescue her husband from the man who is beating him, and she reaches out and grabs him by his private parts, ¹² you shall cut off her hand. You are to show her no pity.

¹³ You are not to have two different weights in your sack, one heavy and the other one light.

¹⁴ You are not to have two different measures in your house, one large and the other one small.

¹⁵ You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live a long time in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you, ¹⁶ for anyone who does these things, who deals with others dishonestly, is an abomination to the Lord, your God.

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you as you were on your way when you came forth from the land of Egypt.^{[as] 18} They met you along the way and waylaid those who were lagging when you were weary and worn out. They had no fear of God. ¹⁹ When the Lord, your God, gives you rest from all of the enemies who surround you in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving to you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of the Amalekites from under the heavens. Do not forget!

Chapter 26

Thanksgiving for God’s Gifts. ¹ When you have entered the land that the Lord, your God, is giving to you as an inheritance and you have taken possession of it and are dwelling in it, ² you shall take the firstfruits of the produce of the earth in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you, and you shall put them in a basket. You shall then bring them to the place that the Lord, your God, has chosen as a dwelling place for his name. ³ Go to the priest then in office and say, “I declare today to the Lord, your God, that I have come into the land that the Lord promised to our fathers to give us.” ⁴ The priest will then take the basket out of your hand and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord, your God. ⁵ You shall declare before the Lord, your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean,^[at] and he went down into Egypt with a few people and he dwelt there becoming a great nation, powerful and numerous. ⁶ The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us and forced us to do hard labor. ⁷ We cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and took notice of our affliction, labor, and oppression. ⁸ The Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying and awesome signs and wonders. ⁹ He brought us to this place and gave us a land, this land that is flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ Now I have brought the firstfruits of the land that you, O Lord, have given me.” Then place it before the Lord, your God, and worship the Lord, your God. ¹¹ You and the Levites and the foreigner who lives with you will rejoice over every good thing that the Lord, your God, has given to you and your household.

¹² When you have finished setting aside a tenth of the produce every third year, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your town so that they might eat it and be satisfied. ¹³ Then you will declare before the Lord, your God, “I have brought these dedicated things from my house and have given them to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, just as you commanded me. I have not violated your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. ¹⁴ I have not eaten any of it while I was in mourning, nor did I remove any of it while I was unclean. I did not offer any of it to the dead. I have harkened to the voice of the Lord, my God, and have done everything that you have commanded me.^{[au] 15} Look down from the heavens, your holy dwelling place, and bless the people of Israel and the land that you have given us as you had promised to our fathers, a land that is flowing with milk and honey.”

¹⁶ Covenant with God. The Lord, your God, commands you today to observe these statutes and decrees. Carefully fulfill them with all of your heart and all of your soul. ¹⁷ You have solemnly declared today that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will observe his statutes, commandments, and decrees, and that you will obey him, ¹⁸ and the Lord has solemnly promised you today that you will be his chosen people, as he had promised, and that you are to observe all of his commandments. ¹⁹ He will raise you up above every other nation in praise, fame, and honor. You will be a holy people^[av] to the Lord, your God, as he has promised.

Chapter 27

Altar on Mount Ebal.^{[aw][ax] 1} Moses and the elders of Israel said to the people: Observe all of the commandments that I give you today. ² When you cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord, your God, has given you, set up some large stones for yourselves and plaster them over. ³ When you cross over to enter the land that the Lord, your God, has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, write all of these laws on them. ⁴ When you have crossed over the Jordan, I command you today, you are to set them up on Mount Ebal and plaster them over. ⁵ Build an altar there to the Lord, your God, an altar of stone. Do not use any iron tool upon them. ⁶ Build an altar of unhewn stones there to the Lord, your God. You shall offer your burnt offerings to the Lord, your God, there. ⁷ You are also to offer up peace offerings and eat them there, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord, your God. ⁸ You will write all of the words of the law upon these stones in a very clear manner.

⁹ Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, said to all of Israel: Take heed, O Israel, and listen, for today you have become the people of the Lord, your God. ¹⁰ Obey the command of the Lord, your God, and observe the commandments and the statutes that I give you today.

¹¹ On the same day Moses said to the people: ¹² When you cross over the Jordan, these are the ones who will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ These are the ones who will stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴ The Twelve Curses.^[ay] The Levites will proclaim to all of the people of Israel,

¹⁵ “Cursed be the person who carves or casts an idol, an abomination to the Lord, the work of human hands, and sets it up in secret.” Then all of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”^{[az] 16} “Cursed is the one who dishonors father or mother.” All of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

¹⁷ “Cursed is the one who moves a neighbor’s boundary stone.” All of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

¹⁸ “Cursed is the one who leads a blind person astray on the road.” All of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

¹⁹ “Cursed is the one who withholds justice from the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.” All of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

²⁰ “Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father’s wife, dishonoring his father’s bed.” All the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

²¹ “Cursed is the one who has sex with an animal.” All the people will proclaim, “Amen.” ²² “Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, either the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” All the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

²³ “Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law.” All of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

²⁴ “Cursed is the one who kills a neighbor in secret.” All of the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

²⁵ “Cursed is the one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.” All the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

²⁶ “Cursed is the one who does not uphold the words of this law and observe them.” All the people will proclaim, “Amen.”

Chapter 28

Blessings for Those Who Obey. ¹ If you heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and you carefully observe all of the commandments that I have given you today, then the Lord, your God, will lift you up above all the other nations upon the earth. ² All of these blessings shall come upon you and accompany you if you obey the voice of the Lord, your God. ³ You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the countryside. ⁴ Your offspring shall be blessed, along with your crops, and the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. ⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. ⁶ You shall be blessed when you enter and when you leave. ⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated by you. They shall come at you from one direction, but they shall flee away from you in seven different directions.^{[ba] 8} The Lord will send a blessing upon your barns and everything that you undertake. The Lord, your God, will bless you in the land that he has given you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his own holy people, as he solemnly promised you, if you observe the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ Then all of the people upon the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you great prosperity,^[bb] including your offspring, the young of your livestock, and the crops that come from the ground, in the land that the Lord promised your ancestors to give to you. ¹² The Lord will open up the storehouse of his bounty in the heavens for you, giving rain to the land in its proper season and blessing all of your undertakings. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall borrow from none. ¹³ The Lord will make you the head, not the tail, on top and not on the bottom, if you heed the commandments of the Lord, your God, that I give you today and you observe them. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the things that I command you today, neither to the right nor to the left, seeking after other gods to serve them.

¹⁵ Curses on Those Who Disobey. If you do not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, carefully observing all his commandments and statutes that I give you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you. ¹⁶ You shall be cursed in the city and you shall be cursed in the countryside. ¹⁷ Your basket and your kneading trough shall be cursed. ¹⁸ Your offspring shall be cursed, along with your crops, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. ¹⁹ You shall be cursed when you enter and when you leave. ²⁰ The Lord will send curses, confusion, and vexation upon you in all of your undertakings until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin on account of the wickedness of what you have done by forsaking me.

²¹ Illness and Deprivation. The Lord will cover you with diseases until you are wiped out from the land to which you are going to possess. ²² The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammations, with scorching heat, with drought, with blight, and mildew. These will plague you until you perish. ²³ The heavens over your head shall be like bronze, while the ground under you shall be like iron. ²⁴ The Lord will turn the rains into dust and powder. It shall pour down upon you from the heavens until you cease to exist. ²⁵ The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You shall go out toward them in one direction, but you shall flee away in seven different directions. You shall be considered to be a thing of horror to all of the nations upon the earth. ²⁶ Your bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the fields, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and tumors, scab and itching sores, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with mental illness, blindness, and dementia. ²⁹ At noon you shall grope around like a blind man in the darkness. Nothing you do shall prosper, and you shall be beset by robbers all the time, and there shall be no one to rescue you. ³⁰ The woman to whom you are betrothed shall be seized by another man who shall ravish her. You shall not be able to live in the house that you have built, and you shall not taste the fruit of the vineyard you have planted. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not get to eat any of it. Your donkey shall be stolen away from you and not returned. Your sheep shall be given over to your enemies, and there shall be no one to rescue you. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and you shall wear out your eyes looking for them all day long, powerless to lift a finger on their behalf. ³³ A people whom you do not know shall devour all of the produce of the land and of your work. You shall know nothing but crushing oppression all of your days. ³⁴ What your eyes behold shall drive you insane. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you with painful boils that cannot be healed on your knees and your legs, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁶ A Place of Exile. The Lord will bring you and the king you have placed over yourselves to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you shall serve other gods, gods made from wood and stone. ³⁷ You shall become an object of horror and a byword among all the nations to which the Lord will bring you.

³⁸ Fruitless Labor. You shall sow much seed in your fields, but you shall harvest little, for the locusts shall devour it. ³⁹ You shall plant and care for vineyards, but you shall not drink its wine or gather its grapes, for the worms will eat it. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout your land, but you shall not have olive oil, for the olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You shall have sons and daughters, but you shall not enjoy them, for they shall go off into captivity. ⁴² Locusts shall consume your trees and the produce of your land. ⁴³ The foreigner who is living with you shall rise higher and higher, but you shall sink lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵ All of these curses shall come upon you. They shall pursue and overtake you until you have been destroyed, for you did not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, and observe the commandments and statutes that he gave you. ⁴⁶ This shall be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever,^{[bc] 47} for you shall not have served the Lord, your God, joyfully and gladly in a time of prosperity. ⁴⁸ Therefore, you shall serve the enemies that the Lord sends against you in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty. He will place an iron yoke upon your neck until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ Invasion and Destruction. The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth. A nation whose language you do not understand shall swoop down like an eagle, ⁵⁰ a fierce nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They shall devour the young of your cattle and the produce of your land until you have been destroyed. They will leave you no grain, wine, oil, or calves in your herds, or lambs in your flocks, until you have been annihilated. ⁵² They shall lay siege to all of your towns until all of the high fortified walls in which you place your trust have fallen down. He will besiege you in your towns all throughout your land, all throughout your land that the Lord, your God, has given you. ⁵³ Because of the hunger and the suffering that your enemies bring upon you during the siege, you shall eat your own children, your sons and your daughters, whom the Lord, your God, has given you. ⁵⁴ Even the most gentle and most sensitive among you shall treat his brother or the wife whom he loves or his surviving children poorly. ⁵⁵ He shall not give any of them the flesh of the children that he is eating. He shall have nothing left because of the siege and the suffering the enemy has inflicted upon you in all of your cities. ⁵⁶ The most gentle and sensitive woman among you, so gentle and sensitive that she would not step upon the ground with the soles of her feet, shall be hostile to the husband whom she loves and her own son and daughter. ⁵⁷ She shall eat the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears secretly because of hunger during the siege and the distress that your enemy shall inflict upon you in your cities.

⁵⁸ Plagues. If you do not carefully observe the words of the law that are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name, the Lord, your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will send these fearful plagues upon you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, wretched and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring upon you all the illness that Egypt dreaded, and they will persist among you. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring upon you every type of illness and disaster that is not recorded in this book until you shall have been annihilated. ⁶² You who were once as numerous as the stars in the heavens shall only be left with a few survivors, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, your God.

⁶³ Punishment and Exile. Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and to multiply your numbers, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You shall be uprooted from the land that you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴ The Lord will scatter you among every people, from one end of the earth to the other. There you shall worship other gods whom neither you nor your fathers knew, gods made of wood and stone. ⁶⁵ Among these nations you shall find no rest, no repose for the soles of your feet. There the Lord will give you an anxious heart, weary eyes, and a spirit of despair. ⁶⁶ You shall live with constant doubt, filled with dread day and night, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, “I wish it were evening.” In the evening you shall say, “I wish it were morning.” This will be because of the terrors in your heart and dread at what your eyes will have seen. ⁶⁸ The Lord will send you back to Egypt on ships, making a journey that I said you would never make again. You shall offer yourselves for sale there to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one shall buy you.

⁶⁹ These are the terms of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them at Horeb.