Category: Deuteronomy

Rewards of Obedience

1 “You shall therefore love the Lordyour God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

2 Know this day that Iamnotspeakingwith your sons who have not known and who have not seen thediscipline of the Lordyour God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm,

3 and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

4 and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lordcompletely destroyed them;

5 and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel—

7 but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lordwhich He did.

8 “You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;

9 so that you may prolongyourdays on the land which the Lordswore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with yourfoot like a vegetable garden.

11 But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

12 a land for which the Lordyour God cares; the eyes of the Lordyour God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

13 “It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lordyour God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul,

14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, theearly and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.

15 He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

16 Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.

17 Or the anger of the Lordwill be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lordis giving you.

18 “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

19 You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lordswore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavensremainabove the earth.

22 For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lordyour God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him,

23 then the Lordwill drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon,andfrom the river, the river Euphrates, as far asthe western sea.

25 No man will be able to stand before you; the Lordyour God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lordyour God, which I am commanding you today;

28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lordyour God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

29 “It shall come about, when the Lordyour God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lordyour God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,

32 and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/11-8545e444a6c90f5f28cac430ce1c6727.mp3?version_id=100—

Laws of the Sanctuary

1 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

3 You shall tear down their altars and smash theirsacredpillars and burn theirAsherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

4 You shall not act like this toward the Lordyour God.

5 But you shall seekthe Lordat the place which the Lordyour God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

6 There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

7 There also you and your households shall eat before the Lordyour God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lordyour God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every mandoingwhatever is right in his own eyes;

9 for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lordyour God is giving you.

10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lordyour God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies aroundyouso that you live in security,

11 then it shall come about that the place in which the Lordyour God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

12 And you shall rejoice before the Lordyour God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13 “Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in everyculticplace you see,

14 but in the place which the Lordchooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lordyour God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the deer.

16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

17 You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand.

18 But you shall eat them before the Lordyour God in the place which the Lordyour God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lordyour God in all your undertakings.

19 Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 “When the Lordyour God extends your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you desire to eat meat,thenyou may eat meat, whatever you desire.

21 If the place which the Lordyour God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock which the Lordhas given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates whatever you desire.

22 Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you will eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

25 You shall not eat it, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

26 Only your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lordchooses.

27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lordyour God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lordyour God, and you shall eat the flesh.

28 “Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lordyour God.

29 “When the Lordyour God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,

30 beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’

31 You shall not behave thus toward the Lordyour God, for every abominable act which the Lordhates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/12-6cc66a2cda11219b84209dfae3e9dc1d.mp3?version_id=100—

Shun Idolatry

1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,

2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’

3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lordyour God is testing you to find out if you love the Lordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 You shall follow the Lordyour God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lordyour God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lordyour God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

6 “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,

7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),

8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.

9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lordyour God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lordyour God is giving you to live in,anyonesayingthat

13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known),

14 then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is trueandthe matter established that this abomination has been done among you,

15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword.

16 Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lordyour God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt.

17 Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lordmay turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers,

18 if you will listen to the voice of the Lordyour God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lordyour God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/13-9e0d76344459428311fd2455120cf5bb.mp3?version_id=100—

Clean and Unclean Animals

1 “You are the sons of the Lordyour God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead.

2 For you are a holy people to the Lordyour God, and the Lordhas chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 “You shall not eat any detestable thing.

4 These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

6 Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in twoandchews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

7 Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.

8 The pig, because it divides the hoof butdoesnotchewthe cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

9 “These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

10 but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat any clean bird.

12 But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard,

13 and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,

14 and every raven in its kind,

15 and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds,

16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

18 the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

19 And all the teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.

20 You may eat any clean bird.

21 “You shall not eat anything which diesof itself.You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the Lordyour God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

22 “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year.

23 You shall eat in the presence of the Lordyour God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lordyour God always.

24 If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bringthe tithe,since the place where the Lordyour God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the Lordyour God blesses you,

25 then you shall exchangeitfor money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lordyour God chooses.

26 You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lordyour God and rejoice, you and your household.

27 Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposititin your town.

29 The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lordyour God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/14-8deaf638d691376785b158278f1bef47.mp3?version_id=100—

The Sabbatic Year

1 “At the end ofeveryseven years you shallgrant a remissionof debts.

2 This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’sremission has been proclaimed.

3 From a foreigner you may exactit,but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother.

4 However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lordwill surely bless you in the land which the Lordyour God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lordyour God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

6 For the Lordyour God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lordyour God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;

8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his needinwhatever he lacks.

9 Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the Lordagainst you, and it will be a sin in you.

10 You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lordyour God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

11 For the poor will never ceaseto bein the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

12 “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.

13 When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

14 You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lordyour God has blessed you.

15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lordyour God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

16 It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you;

17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.

18 “It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six yearswithdouble the service of a hired man; so the Lordyour God will bless you in whatever you do.

19 “You shall consecrate to the Lordyour God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lordyour God in the place which the Lordchooses.

21 But if it has any defect,such aslameness or blindness,orany serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lordyour God.

22 You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alikemay eat it,as a gazelle or a deer.

23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/15-6fc5fd5d0d7044b4825c7d353672d876.mp3?version_id=100—

The Feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Booths

1 “Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lordyour God, for in the month of Abib the Lordyour God brought you out of Egypt by night.

2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lordyour God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lordchooses to establish His name.

3 You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

4 For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning.

5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the Lordyour God is giving you;

6 but at the place where the Lordyour God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.

7 You shall cook and eatitin the place which the Lordyour God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents.

8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lordyour God; you shall do no workon it.

9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.

10 Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lordyour God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lordyour God blesses you;

11 and you shall rejoice before the Lordyour God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lordyour God chooses to establish His name.

12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat;

14 and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.

15 Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lordyour God in the place which the Lordchooses, because the Lordyour God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

16 “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lordyour God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lordempty-handed.

17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lordyour God which He has given you.

18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lordyour God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

19 You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

20 Justice,and onlyjustice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lordyour God is giving you.

21 “You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lordyour God, which you shall make for yourself.

22 You shall not set up for yourself asacredpillar which the Lordyour God hates.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/16-4047644329649ec6fbf1b7e6a1819fe8.mp3?version_id=100—

Administration of Justice

1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lordyour God an ox or a sheep which has a blemishorany defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lordyour God.

2 “If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lordyour God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lordyour God, by transgressing His covenant,

3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded,

4 and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,

5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates,that is,the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death.

6 On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

8 “If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lordyour God chooses.

9 So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who isin officein those days, and you shall inquireof themand they will declare to you the verdict in the case.

10 You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lordchooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you.

11 According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.

12 The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lordyour God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

14 “When you enter the land which the Lordyour God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’

15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lordyour God chooses,onefrom among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.

16 Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lordhas said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’

17 He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

18 “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19 It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lordhis God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/17-03521b032cf9811ea43730b80df0bf0c.mp3?version_id=100—

Portion of the Levites

1 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’sofferings by fire and His portion.

2 They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen; the Lordis their inheritance, as He promised them.

3 “Now this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.

4 You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep.

5 For the Lordyour God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand and serve in the name of the Lordforever.

6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lordchooses,

7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lordhis God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord.

8 They shall eat equal portions, exceptwhat they receivefrom the sale of their fathers’estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

9 “When you enter the land which the Lordyour God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lordyour God will drive them out before you.

13 You shall be blameless before the Lordyour God.

14 For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lordyour God has not allowed youto doso.

15 “The Lordyour God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.

16 This is according to all that you asked of the Lordyour God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lordmy God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’

17 The Lordsaid to me, ‘They have spoken well.

18 I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

19 It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will requireitof him.

20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’

21 You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lordhas not spoken?’

22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lordhas not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/18-d6fcf115c5ce5a132d38d85921ae0d6b.mp3?version_id=100—

Cities of Refuge

1 “When the Lordyour God cuts off the nations, whose land the Lordyour God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,

2 you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lordyour God gives you to possess.

3 You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lordyour God will give you as a possession, so that any manslayer may flee there.

4 “Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously—

5 as whena mangoes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the ironheadslips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;

6 otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.

7 Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

8 “If the Lordyour God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers—

9 if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the Lordyour God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.

10 So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lordyour God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

11 “But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

13 You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

14 “You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lordyour God gives you to possess.

15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.

16 If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing,

17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will bein officein those days.

18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witnessandhe has accused his brother falsely,

19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

20 The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

21 Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/19-0f9bda2f5ebe5a7dea0582cfce9c2bd1.mp3?version_id=100—

Laws of Warfare

1 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariotsandpeople more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lordyour God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

2 When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people.

3 He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them,

4 for the Lordyour God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

5 The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it.

6 Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit.

7 And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’

8 Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’

9 When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace.

11 If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

12 However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

13 When the Lordyour God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.

14 Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lordyour God has given you.

15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby.

16 Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lordyour God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

17 But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lordyour God has commanded you,

18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lordyour God.

19 “When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?

20 Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/DEU/20-fcabf4bbeeb56e27a0df9a730459279e.mp3?version_id=100—