Deuteronomy (The Second Copy of the Law) Chapters 31-34

31[1-3] Moses said these words to all Israel, I’m 120 years old today; I can’t come and go any more. Yahweh has said to me, “Don’t go over the Jordan.” Yahweh your God will lead you and will destroy the nations from before you, and you’ll take ownership of them: and Joshua will lead you, as Yahweh has said.
[4-5] Yahweh will do to them as Sihon and Og, the rulers of the Amorites, and their land; whom God destroyed. Yahweh will give them to you, and you’ll do to them all the judgments which I’ve told you.
[6] Be strong and have good courage, don't be afraid or scared of them because Yahweh your God is the One who goes with you and won’t fail you, nor leave you.
[7-8] Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in front of all Israel, “Be strong and have good courage. You’ll go with this people into the land which Yahweh has promised to their ancestors to give them; and you’ll cause them to inherit it. Yahweh is the One who goes before you and will be with you. God won’t fail you, nor leave you. Don't be afraid, nor be discouraged.
[9-13] Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the bull of the promised agreement of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel. Moses told them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tents, when all Israel has come to go before Yahweh your God in the place which God chooses, you’ll read this law in the hearing of all Israel. Gather the people, the men, women, little ones, and the foreigner who’s where you live, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and respect Yahweh your God, and keep and do all the words of this law; and that their children, who haven’t known, may hear, and learn to respect Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan for your own.
[14-15] Then Yahweh said to Moses, “See, your day is coming that you must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Meeting Place, that I may give him My orders.” So Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Meeting Place. Yahweh went in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, which stayed over the door of the Tent.
[16-18] Yahweh said to Moses, “See, you’ll die with your ancestors; and this people will rise up, and be unfaithful, going after the false gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will leave me, and break My promised agreement which I’ve made with them. Then I will be angry with them in that day, and I’ll leave them, and I won’t look on them, and they’ll be destroyed, and many evils and troubles will come on them; so that they’ll say in that day, ‘Haven't these evils come on us because our God isn’t with us?’ I’ll without a doubt not look on them in that day for all the evil they’ve done, because they turned to other gods.
[19-21] So now write this song, and teach it the people of Israel. Make them sing it, that this song may be a witness for Me against the people of Israel. For when I’ve brought them into the land which I promised to their ancestors, full of milk and honey, and they’ve eaten and are full, and grown fat; then they’ll turn to other gods, and serve them, and hate me, and break My promised agreement. When many evils and troubles come on them, this song will testify against them as a witness because it won’t be forgotten and will still be sung by their descendants. I know what they’re thinking today, before I’ve even brought them into the land which I promised.”
[22-23] So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the people of Israel. He gave Joshua the son of Nun an order, and said, “Be strong and have good courage because you’ll bring the people of Israel into the land which I promised to them and I’ll be with you.”
[24-27] When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, and they were finished, Moses told the Levites, who carried the bull of the promised agreement of Yahweh, saying, “Take this Book of the Law, and put it by the side of the bull of the promised agreement of Yahweh your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. I know your stubborn rebelliousness. See, while I’m still alive with you today, you’ve disobeyed Yahweh; so how much more after my death?
[28-30] Gather to me all the elders of your family groups, and your officers, that I may speak these words to them, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. I know that after my death you will completely ruin yourselves, and turn from the way which I’ve told you; and evil things will happen to you in the end times; because you will do what’s evil right in front of Yahweh, provoking God’s anger through everything you do.” So Moses told all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.
32[1-4] Listen, you heavens, and I’ll speak. Let the earth listen to my words. My teaching will fall as the rain. My words will drop as the dew, as the rain drops on the tender grass, as the showers on the plants. I’ll make known the name of Yahweh. I’ll make known the greatness of our God! The Rock, whose work is perfect, for all God’s ways are fair. God is a God of faithfulness and without fault, just and right.
[5-9] They’ve been unfaithful to God, and aren’t God’s children; It’s their own fault. They are an evil and twisted generation. Is this the way you act toward Yahweh, you stupid and unwise people? Isn't God like your parent who has bought you? God has made you, and kept you. Remember the old days. Think about the years of many generations. Ask your parents, who will show you; your elders, and they’ll tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when God separated the people, God set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel. Yahweh's part is God’s people. Jacob is the lot of God’s inheritance.
[10-14] God found you in a desert land, in the empty howling countryside. God surrounded you and cared for you. God kept you as a favorite. As an eagle that stirs up her nest that flutters over her young, God’s wings spread abroad and took them, and God’s feathers carried them. Yahweh alone led you. There was no foreign god that helped. God made you ride on the high places of the earth and eat the increase of the field. God caused you to eat honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock; Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of the lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. Of the juice of the grape you drank wine.
[15-18] But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You’ve grown fat. You’ve grown thick. You’ve become sleek. Then you left the God who made you, and hardly valued the Rock of your salvation. They moved God to jealousy with false gods. They provoked God to anger with their wrongs. They sacrificed to demons, which were no god, to gods that they didn't know, to new gods that came up of late, which your ancestors didn't dread. Of the Rock who became like your parent, you’re unmindful, and have forgotten the One who gave you birth.
[19-27] Yahweh saw it, and hated God’s own children, because they provoked God. God said, I won’t look on them. I’ll see what happens to them because they’re a very evil generation, children who aren’t faithful. They’ve made Me jealous with what’s not a god. They’ve made Me very angry with their empty worship. I’ll move them to jealousy with those who aren’t a people. I’ll make them angry with a stupid nation. My anger is like a fire that burns to the lowest parts of hell, and destroys the earth as it grows, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire. I’ll pile up many evils on them. I’ll shoot My arrows at them. They’ll die of hunger, and be destroyed with burning heat and terrible destruction. I’ll send the animals on them to attack them, and poison them with the crawling things of the dust. Outside the war will take their loved ones, and in their rooms, terror will come on both the young one and virgin, the nursing baby and the gray-haired one. I said, I would scatter them afar. I would make the memory of them be forgotten; were it not that I feared the enemy would provoke Me, in case their enemies should judge wrongly, in case they should say, “We are strong, Yahweh hasn’t done all this.”
[28-34] They’re a nation with no purpose. They don’t have any understanding. Oh that they were wise and understood this, that they would think about their latter end! How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had given up on them? Their rock isn’t as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous grapes, with bitter clusters. Their wine is the poison of dragons, the cruel venom of snakes. Isn't this laid up in store with Me, sealed up among My treasures?
[35-38] Revenge is mine and I will punish when they slip up because the day of their trouble is near. What’s to come on them will soon happen. Yahweh will judge God’s people, and have compassion on God’s workers, when Yahweh sees that their power is gone, and there’s none left, shut up or left unknown. God will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took safety; Which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them protect you.”
[39-44] See now that I, even I, am God, and there’s no god other than Me. I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal. There’s no one who can take anything out of My hand. I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, As I live forever, if I whet My glittering sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment; I’ll get revenge on My enemies, and will punishment those who hate Me. I’ll make My arrows drunk with their blood. My sword will destroy them, and that with the blood of those killed and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy. Be at peace, you nations, with God’s people, because Yahweh will get revenge for the blood of God’s workers. Yahweh will get revenge on the enemies of God, and will forgive the sins of the land, for God’s people. Moses came and told the words of this song to the people with Joshua the son of Nun.
[45-47] Moses finished speaking these words to all Israel and said to them, Set your heart to do all the words which I tell you today, which you’ll tell your children to keep and do, even all the words of this law. It’s not useless for you, because it’s your very life, and through this thing you’ll prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan for your own.
[48-52] Yahweh told Moses that same day, saying, Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that’s next to Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel for their own; and die on the mountain where you go up, and be taken to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was taken to his people, because you sinned against Me in front of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the countryside of Zin; and because you didn't show Me respect in front of the people of Israel. You’ll see the land before you; but you won’t go there into the land which I give the people of Israel.
33[1-5] This is the blessing, with which Moses, the one of God, blessed the people of Israel before his death. He said, Yahweh came from Sinai, and came from Seir to them. God shined from Mount Paran and came with ten thousands of holy ones with a fiery law for them. Yes, God loves the people. All God’s saints are in Your hand. They sat down at Your feet and everyone will listen to Your words. Moses told us a law, Your own for the assembly of Jacob, who was ruler in Jeshurun, when the leaders of the people were gathered, and all the family groups of Israel were together.
[6] Let Reuben live, and not die; Nor let his people be few.
[7] This is the blessing of Judah: and Moses said, Listen, Yahweh, to the voice of Judah. Bring him in to his people. With his hands he fought for himself. You’ll be a help against his enemies.
[8-11] Of Levi he said, Let your Judgment Stones be with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you fought at the waters of Meribah; who said of his parents, I haven’t seen them; Nor did he acknowledge kin, Nor did he know his own children. They kept your word, and your promised agreement. They’ll teach Jacob your rules, and Israel your law. They’ll put incense before you, and whole burnt offerings on your altar. Yahweh, bless everything they have and accept their work. Destroy those who rise up against them, of those who hate them, so that they won’t come against them again.
[12] Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Yahweh will live in safety by God, who covers him all day long. God lives in his heart.
[13-17] Of Joseph he said, His land is blessed by Yahweh, for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, for the sea that stretches out below, for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, for the precious things of the growth of the moons, for the oldest things of the ancient mountains, for the precious things of the everlasting hills, for the precious things of the earth and its fullness, the good will of the one who lived in the bush. Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of the one who was separated from his kin. His beauty is like the firstborn of his herd. His horns are like the horns of the wild bull. With them he’ll push all of the peoples, even to the ends of the earth: They are the ten thousands of Ephraim. They are the thousands of Manasseh.
[18-19] Of Zebulun he said, Be happy, Zebulun, in your going out; and Issachar, in your tents. They’ll call the peoples to the mountain. There they’ll offer sacrifices of goodness, for they’ll draw out of the riches of the seas, the hidden treasures of the sand.
[20-21] Of Gad he said, The one who makes room for Gad is blessed. He lives as a lion, and tears the arm, yes, the crown of the head. He got the first part for himself, where the lawgiver's part was saved for him. He came with the leaders of the people and got justice for Yahweh, and kept God’s rules with Israel.
[22] Of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's cub that leaps out of Bashan.
[23] Of Naphtali he said, Naphtali, satisfied with favor, full of the blessing of Yahweh, take ownership the west and the south.
[24-25] Of Asher he said, Asher is blessed with children. Let him be acceptable to his kin. Let him dip his foot in oil. You’ll be as strong as iron and brass. You’ll be strong as long as you live.
[26-] There’s none like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, looking wonderful on the skies. The eternal God is where you’ll live, who will hold you in the everlasting arms. God will throw out the enemy from before you, and say, “Destroy.” Israel lives in safety; the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine. Yes, the heavens drop down dew. You’re happy, Israel. Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the greatness of your strength! Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You’ll walk on their high places.
34[1-4] Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah, that’s next to Jericho. Yahweh showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the sea, and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, to Zoar. And Yahweh said to him, “This is the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I’ll give it to your children.’ I’ve caused you to see it with your own eyes, but you won’t go over there.
[5-8] So Moses the worker of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Yahweh. He was buried in the valley in the land of Moab next to Beth Peor, but no one knows where his tomb is to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. He wasn’t blind, nor was his strength weakened. The people of Israel cried for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, then the days of crying and mourning for Moses came to an end.
[9-12] Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. The people of Israel listened to him, and did as Yahweh told Moses. There hasn’t been a great preacher like Moses in Israel since then, whom Yahweh knew face to face, in all the signs and the amazing things, which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, his workers, and his land, and in all the great strength and horror, which Moses did in front of all Israel.

Deuteronomy (The Second Copy of the Law) Chapters 27-30

Deuteronomy
(The Second Copy of the Law)
Chapters 27-30

27[1-3] Moses and the elders of Israel told the people, saying, “Keep all the judgments which I tell you today. On the day that you pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, set up great stones, and plaster them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law, when you pass over; so that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land full of milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
[4-8] When you pass over the Jordan, set up these stones, which I tell you today, in Mount Ebal, and you’ll plaster them with plaster. There you’ll build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. Don’t use any kind of iron tool on them. Build the altar of Yahweh your God of uncut stones; and offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God. Sacrifice your peace offerings, and eat there; and you’ll be happy before Yahweh your God. Clearly write all the words of this law on the stones.”
[9-10] Moses and the priests, the Levites, told all Israel, saying, “Be quiet and listen, Israel. Today you’ve become the people of Yahweh your God. So obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and do God’s Laws and rules, which I tell you today.”
[11-13] Moses told the people the same day, saying, “These will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you’ve passed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali will stand on Mount Ebal for the punishment.”
[14-15] The Levites will tell all the people of Israel with a loud voice, “Punishment will come to the one who makes a false god, which is a wrong to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsperson, and sets it up in secret. All the people will answer and say, Amen.
[16] Punishment will come to the one who dishonors his father or mother. All the people will say, Amen.
[17] Punishment will come to the one who removes someone's landmark. All the people will say, Amen.
[18] Punishment will come to the one who makes the blind go astray. All the people will say, Amen.
[19] Punishment will come to those who are unfair in judgment to the foreigner, orphan, and death survivor. All the people will say, Amen.
[20] Punishment will come to the one who has sex with his step mother, because he has shamed his father. All the people will say, Amen.
[21] Punishment will come to the one who has sex with any kind of animal. All the people will say, Amen.
[22] Punishment will come to the one who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. All the people will say, Amen.
[23] Punishment will come to the one who has sex his mother-in-law. All the people will say, Amen.
[24] Punishment will come to the one who kills someone in secret. All the people will say, Amen.
[25] Punishment will come to the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person. All the people will say, Amen.
[26] Punishment will come to the one who doesn't agree to do the words of this law. All the people will say, Amen.
28[1-2] If you’ll listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep and do all God’s Laws which I tell you today, then Yahweh your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings will come on you, and overtake you, if you’ll listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.
[3] You’ll be blessed in the city, and You’ll be blessed in the field.
[4] Blessed will be your children, and the crops you grow in your ground, and the offspring of your animals, the young of your herd, and the young of your flock.
[5] Blessed will be your food supply.
[6] You’ll be blessed when you come in, and you’ll be blessed when you go out.
[7] Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be punished before you. They’ll come against you one way, but will run from you seven ways.
[8] Yahweh will put a blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you do; and will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
[9-10] Yahweh will make you a holy people for God’s own self, as was promised to you; if you’ll keep the Laws of Yahweh your God, and follow God’s ways. All the peoples of the earth will see that you’re called by the name of Yahweh; and they’ll be afraid of you.
[11-12] Yahweh will make you have plenty of everything good, your children, the offspring of your animals, and in the crops you grow in your ground, in the land which Yahweh promised to your ancestors to give you. Yahweh will open to you the riches of heaven, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You’ll lend to many nations, and won’t borrow.
[13-14] Yahweh will make you the first, and not the last; and you’ll be above everyone, and won’t be beneath anyone; if you’ll listen to the Laws of Yahweh your God, which I tell you today, to keep and do them, and don’t turn away from any of the words which I tell you today, to go after and serve other gods.
[15] But it will happen, if you won’t listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep and do all God’s Laws and rules which I tell you today, that all these punishments will come on you, and overcome you.
[16] You’ll be punished in the city, and you’ll be punished in the field.
[17] Punished will be your food supply.
[18] Punished will be your children, and the crops you grow in your ground, and the offspring of your animals, and the young of your flock.
[19] You’ll be punished when you come in, and you’ll be punished when you go out.
[20 Yahweh will send on you punishment, confusion, and correction, in all that you set out to do, until you’re destroyed, and until you die quickly; because of the evil of your doings, by which you’ve been unfaithful to Me.
[21-22] Yahweh will make you have diseases, until you’re destroyed from off the land, where you go in for your own. Yahweh will hit you with disease, fever, swelling, burning pain, war, and with fungus and mildew; which will come to you until you die.
[23-24] Your sky that’s over your head will be as hot and shining as brass and the earth that’s under you will be as hard as iron. Yahweh will make the rain of your land clouds of dust, which will come down on you from the sky, until you’re destroyed.
[25] Yahweh will cause you to be punished before your enemies; you’ll come against them one way, and will run from them seven ways; and you’ll be spread all over the earth.
[26] Your dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth; and there won’t be anyone to scare them away.
[27] Yahweh will hit you with the swelling sores of Egypt, with tumors, scabs, and an itch, of which you can’t be healed.
[28] Yahweh will make you go crazy, and blind you, and shock your heart; and you’ll be searching in broad daylight like a blind person feels around in dark, and you won’t do well in anything you do, and you’ll always be abused and ruined, and there won’t be anyone to save you.
[30] You’ll get engaged, and another one will have sex with her. You’ll build a house, and won’t live in it. You’ll plant a garden, and won’t use any of the food from it. Your bull will be killed before your eyes, and you won’t eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from you, and won’t be given back to you. Your animals will be given to your enemies, and you won’t have anyone to save you.
[32] Your children will be given to another people; and your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long: and you’ll have no control over anything.
[33-34] A nation which you don't know will eat the crops of your ground, and destroy all of your work; and you’ll always be abused and ruined; so that you’ll be crazy from what your eyes see.
[35] Yahweh will hit you with swelling sores, of which you can’t be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
[36-37] Yahweh will bring you and your ruler whom you set over you, to a nation that you’ve not known, you nor your ancestors, where you’ll serve false gods of wood and stone. All the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away will be shocked by you, have bad sayings about you, and will make fun of you.
[38-40] You’ll plant many seeds in the field, but will gather little in because the locust will eat it. You’ll plant vineyards and keep them, but you won’t drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes because the grubs will eat them. You’ll have olive trees all over your land, but won’t rub the oil on yourself because your olive tree will drop its fruit.
[41] You’ll father children, but they won’t be yours because they’ll be taken by others.
[42] The insects will take over all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
[43] The foreigner who lives with you will become more and more powerful than you; while you have less and less control. They’ll lend to you, and you won’t be able to lend to them. They’ll be first, and you’ll be last.
[45-48] All these punishments will come on you, and will chase you, and overtake you, until you’re destroyed because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep God’s Laws and rules which God told you. These punishments will come to you and your children forever as a sign and an amazing thing because you didn't serve Yahweh your God with happiness, and weren’t pleased in your hearts because of all the things you had. So you’ll serve your enemies whom Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and in need of all things. God will take complete control of you until you’re destroyed.
[49-52] Yahweh will bring a far off nation against you, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you won’t understand; a nation that looks harshly at you and won’t respect the old, nor show kindness to the young, and will eat the offspring of your animals, and the fruit of your ground, until you’re destroyed; that also won’t leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the offspring of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they’ve caused you to die. They’ll surround you in all your cities, until your high and strongly built walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land; and they’ll make war against you in all your cities throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you.
[53] You’ll eat the meat of your own children which come from your own body, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the time of war and trouble when your enemies will abuse you.
[54] The men who’s the gentlest and kindest among you, will turn against their own siblings, and against their own wives, and what’s left of their children; and won’t share with them any of the meat of the children they eat, because they don’t have anything left, in the war and trouble when your enemy will abuse you in all your cities.
[56 The gentlest and kindest woman among you, who would not even set the sole of her foot on the ground for gentleness and kindness, will turn against her husband, who she loved, and her children, and even her own babies. Yes, she’ll turn against her own children whom she’ll hold and secretly eat them out of need, in the war and in the trouble when your enemy will abuse you in your cities.
[58-59] If you won’t do all the words of this law that are written in this book, so that you may respect this well known and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD; then Yahweh will make your troubles shocking, and the problems of your children will be very great troubles that last a long time, and they’ll have great sicknesses that last a long time.
[60-62] God will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they’ll come on you. Also every sickness and trouble, which isn’t written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring on you, until you’re destroyed. You’ll be left few in number, while you had as many people as the stars in the sky; because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.
[63-64] As Yahweh is happy to do good to you, and to make you grow, so Yahweh will be happy to cause you to die, and to destroy you; and you’ll be taken from off the land where you go in to take for your own. Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you’ll serve false gods, which you’ve not known, you nor your ancestors, of wood and stone.
[65-66] You won’t have any peace among these nations and there’ll be no rest for you. There, Yahweh will give you great fear, and you’ll lose all hope, and have no spirit left. You won’t know if you’ll live or die; and you’ll be scared night and day, and won’t have any guarantee of your life.
[67-68] In the morning you’ll say, I wish it were evening! and at evening you’ll say, I wish it were morning! for the fear you have in your heart, and for the things you see with your eyes. Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, “You won’t see it anymore.” There you’ll offer yourselves to work for your enemies, and no one will hire you.
29[1-4] These are the words of the promised agreement which Yahweh told Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the promised agreement which was made with them in Horeb. Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, You’ve seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his workers, and to all his land; the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and the great amazing things. But Yahweh hasn’t given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until today.
[5-6] I’ve led you forty years in the countryside. Your clothes haven’t grown old on you, and your shoes haven’t grown old on your feet. You haven’t eaten bread, nor drunk wine or alcohol, so that you may know that I’m Yahweh your God.
[7-8] When you came to this place, Sihon the ruler of Heshbon, and Og the ruler of Bashan, came out against us to fight, and we attacked them and took their land, and gave it to you, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and to the half-family group of the Manassites.
[9-10] So keep the words of this promised agreement, and do them, that you may do well in all that you do. All of you stand today before Yahweh your God; your leaders, your family groups, your elders, and your officers, and all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your foreigner who’s with your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who gets your water; that you may make the promised agreement with Yahweh your God, and accept God’s promise, which Yahweh your God makes with you today; that God may make you today a people to be God’s own people, and that Yahweh may be to you a God, as was told you, and as was promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
[14-19] Not with you only do I make this promised agreement, but with all those who stand here with us today before Yahweh our God, and also with those who’s not yet here with us today (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations through which you passed. You’ve seen their wrongs, and their false gods of wood, stone, silver and gold, which were among them. I tell you this in case there should be anyone among you, man or woman, family or family group, whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go and serve the false gods of those nations; And in case there should be among you a poisoned root of anger, who hears the words of this punishment, and says to themselves in their hearts, “I’ll have peace, even though I do what I want to do”, which would destroy us all.
[20-21] Yahweh won’t spare them, but the anger of Yahweh’s jealousy will burn against that one, and all the punishment that’s written in this book will fall on them, and Yahweh will wipe out their name from the earth. Yahweh will set them apart for punishment out of all the family groups of Israel, according to all the punishments of the promised agreement that’s written in this Book of the Law.
[22-24] The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land, will ask, when they see the troubles of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick; and that the whole land is sulfur, and salt, and burning, that it’s not planted, nor grows anything, nor has any grass growing in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh angrily overthrew in God’s great anger; Yes, all the nations will ask, “Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?”
[25-28] Then they’ll say, It was because they didn’t keep the promised agreement of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, which was made with them when God brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, false gods that they didn't know, and that God hadn’t given to them. So Yahweh was angry at this land, and brought on it all the punishment that’s written in this book; and Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger and in rage, being greatly offended, and sent them into another land, as at today.
[29] Yahweh our God doesn’t tell us everything; but what God has told us is ours and our children’s forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
30[1-3] When all these things are come on you, the blessing and the punishment, which I’ve set before you, and you remember them among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you, if you’ll go back to Yahweh your God, and obey God’s words according to all that I tell you today, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul; then Yahweh your God will turn these things around for you, and have compassion on you, and will gather you back from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you.
[4-5] If any of you are in the farthest parts of the universe, Yahweh your God will gather you from there, and bring you back: and Yahweh your God will bring you back into the land which your ancestors took ownership of, and you’ll take ownership of it; and God will do good to you, and make you have more people than your ancestors.
[6] Yahweh your God will break your heart, and the heart of your children, to make you love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, so that you may live.
[7] Then Yahweh your God will put all these punishments on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who abused you.
[8] You’ll go back and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all God’s Laws which I tell you today.
[9-10] Yahweh your God will make you have plenty from all that you do. You’ll have many children, many offspring from your animals, and plenty of food from your ground, for your good. Yahweh will again be happy over you for good, as God was happy over your ancestors; if you’ll obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep God’s Laws and rules which are written in this Book of the Law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.
[11-14] This judgment, which I tell you today, isn’t too hard for you to do, nor is it far off. It’s not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?” Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?” But the word is very near you. You can say the word with your mouth, and you know it in your heart, that you may do it.
[15-16] See, today, I’ve set before you life and good, death and bad; in that I tell you today to love Yahweh your God, to follow God’s ways, and to keep God’s Laws, judgments, and rules, that you may live and grow, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go to take for your own.
[17-18] But if your heart turns away, and you won’t listen, but follow after those who will tempt you to worship other gods, and serve them; I tell to you today, that you’ll without a doubt die and won’t stay long in the land, where you pass over the Jordan to take for your own.
[19-20] I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I’ve set before you life and death, the blessing and the punishment: so choose life, so that you and your children may live. Love Yahweh your God and obey God’s words, and hold on to God, who is your very life, and will give you long life; that you may live in the land which Yahweh promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

40 Days through the Torah

This is a unique feminist approach to a gender-neutral paraphrase of the Holy Bible, which uses the true name of Yahweh God, rather than the traditional man made form of Jehovah by Sis. Kimberly M. Hartfield, B.S., M.S. - Christian Counselor, Ordained Minister. It is a work in progress, so these are excerpts in a continuing series.
Introduction
This Go Fish Ministries publication is a paraphrase of the holy Bible. Its main purpose is to present a simplified version to those who have difficulty understanding more traditional ones, especially children and teens. My inspiration was to give my own children a more understandable, easier to read text, and one that would encourage them and other young people to read the Word of God. Many Biblical versions were considered in the interpretation of this version, in which the starting point was the original King James Version. Other versions considered were the New King James Version, the Good News Bible, the Living Bible, the American Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, and Others, along with a study of many of the original Hebrew words from the Strong’s Concordance and Dictionary. The main departure from these common versions is the use of the proper Name of God, which is now commonly understood to be Yahweh. I now quote from the preface to The New Oxford Annotated Bible Revised Standard Version which states concerning the Name of God,

“A major departure…is the rendering of the Divine Name…the term Jehovah; the King James Version had employed this in four places, but everywhere else, except in three cases where it was employed as part of a proper Name, used the English word LORD (or in certain cases GOD). . . While it is almost if not quite certain that the Name was originally pronounced Yahweh, this pronunciation was not indicated when the Masoretes added vowel signs to the consonantal Hebrew. To the four consonants YHWH of the Name, which had come to be regarded as too sacred to be pronounced, they attached vowel signs indicating that in its place should be read the Hebrew word Adonai meaning Lord (or Elohim meaning God)…The form Jehovah is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. The sound of the Y is represented by J and the sound of W by V, as in Latin . . . the word Jehovah does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew . . . and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.”

In light of these words and many hours of heartfelt prayer and study of the Scriptures, I’ve endeavored to bring back the use of the forgotten Name of God in this publication, and the use of the English word Lord has been replaced with Savior, in places where the use of YAHWEH was not employed. I’ve been tormented over whether or not this interpretation was the right thing to do, and I now believe with all my heart that I’ve done the perfect will of God. Yet, if I’ve rather entered into the permissive will of God, I now plead for God’s mercy on my soul, as I’ve done it in ignorance rather than malice.
Another departure from the norm is the explicit use of the masculine form to denote the persons of the Godhead, noting that many of the Hebrew words implicating the Godhead are in feminine forms, in particularly Elohiym, which can denote God or Goddess. Where verses read He, Him, or His, many instances have been changed to read You, Your, or Yours, which doesn’t denote a masculine or feminine Entity, but rather an androgynous Entity. Passages in the New Testament indicate that heavenly beings are neither male nor female, and I believe we can ascertain from these passages that God is neither masculine nor feminine or possibly has both qualities. Since human beings are made in the image of our Maker, and have both masculine and feminine hormones, and it is believed by most that God is complete in Self-existence, it is possible that God fully has both qualities. Since we have no way of knowing this for certain, I choose to use an androgynous descriptor of God in this text. In addition, since the word man, to some, no longer represents humanity in general as used to be the case for most people, I’ve changed the words man, mankind, and the like to more neutral forms, such as humanity, people, orpersons, along with many of the systematically masculine wording such as he, him, and his, to they, them, and theirs as the original Hebrew word (1931 Strong’s) can be denoted as masculine, feminine, or androgynous (he, she, it, etc.).
Other passages which are antiquated by their wording and phrasing are given a more modern connotation than the original text would allow for. In every case that a change was made, several alternate texts were considered along with the original languages as denoted in the Strong’s concordance and dictionary. Some verses were joined together, where the thought had been divided into separate verses in the KJV, when they were felt to be better understood by keeping the thought in one main sentence. Also the text has been put in paragraph form with the individual verses not being numbered, as I believe this can be a distraction when studying or reading the Word of God. In addition, all commonly known prophetic passages denoting Christ, as well as the words of Christ, have been placed in red text, for ease of identification. Quotes have been placed in italics, as well.
With these departures in mind, I hope that this interpretation may be viewed as a help along with other translations in the great commission of Jesus Christ, my Savior. I hope to someday do additional interpretations of the Scriptures, but trust that I’ve done and will do only that which would be in God’s perfect will. God Bless and Go Fish! Jesus said, “Follow Me and I’ll make you fishers of others.” Matthew 4:19.


40 Days through the Torah

Day 1 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/267424_the-holy-bible-genesis-chapter-1-5
Day 2 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/267426_the-holy-bible-genesis-6-10
Day 3 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/267428_the-holy-bible-genesis-11-15
Day 4 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/267429_the-holy-bible-genesis-16-20
Day5 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/275194_genesis-21-25
Day6 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/275196_genesis-26-30
Day7 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/275198_genesis-31-35
Day8 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/275199_genesis-36-40
Day 9 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297697_genesis-41-45
Day10http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297698_genesis-46-50
Day11http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297689_exodus-1-5
Day12http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297691_exodus-6-10
Day 13 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297693_exodus-11-15
Day14http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297694_exodus-16-20
Day15http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297680_exodus-21-25
Day16http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297682_exodus-26-30
Day17http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297683_exodus-31-35
Day18http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297687_exodus-36-40
Day19http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297677_leviticus-1-5
Day 20 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297678_leviticus-6-10
Day21http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297673_leviticus-chapters-11-13
Day22http://www.bukisa.com/articles/297676_leviticus-14-15
Day23http://www.bukisa.com/articles/307288_leviticus-16-20
Day24http://www.bukisa.com/articles/307289_leviticus-21-24
Day25http://www.bukisa.com/articles/307290_leviticus-25-27
Day26http://www.bukisa.com/articles/316519_numbers-1-5
Day27http://www.bukisa.com/articles/316522_numbers-6-10
Day28http://www.bukisa.com/articles/325135_numbers-chapters-11-15
Day29http://www.bukisa.com/articles/336905_the-holy-bible-numbers-16-20
Day30http://www.bukisa.com/articles/336904_the-holy-bible-numbers-21-25
Day31http://www.bukisa.com/articles/346659_numbers-26-30
Day32http://www.bukisa.com/articles/346660_numbers-31-36
Day33http://www.bukisa.com/articles/374331_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-1-5
Day34http://www.bukisa.com/articles/374333_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-4-5
Day35http://www.bukisa.com/articles/397237_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-6-10
Day 36 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/398789_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-11-15
Day 37 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/418211_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-16-20
Day 38 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/423020_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-21-26
Day 39 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/422983_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-27-30
Day 40 http://www.bukisa.com/articles/422989_deuteronomy-the-second-copy-of-the-law-chapters-31-34

Deuteronomy (The Second Copy of the Law) Chapters 21-26

Deuteronomy
(The Second Copy of the Law)
Chapters 21-26

21[1-4] If someone is found killed in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for your own, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has attacked them; then your elders and your judges will come forth, and they’ll measure to the cities which are around the one who’s been killed and the elders of that city which is nearest to the killed one will take a cow of the herd, which hasn't been worked with or pulled a yoke; and the elders of that city will bring down the cow to a valley with a running creek, which isn’t used for farming, and will break the cow's neck there in the valley.
[5-9] The priests, the sons of Levi, will come near because they’ve been chosen by Yahweh your God to minister to God, and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and every argument and every fight will be decided by them. All the elders of that city, who are nearest to the killed one, will wash their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the valley; and they’ll say, “Our hands haven’t shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you’ve freed, and don't let your people Israel be guilty of innocent blood.” Then the blood will be forgiven them. So you’ll put away the innocent blood from you, when you do what’s right to Yahweh.
[10-14] When you go to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your power, and you take them captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you want her, and would take her as a wife; then you’ll bring her home to your house; and she’ll shave her head, and cut her nails; and she’ll take off her clothing that she was captured in, and will stay in your house, and mourn her family a full month. After that you can have sex with her, and be her husband, and she’ll be your wife. If you don’t like her, then you’ll let her go wherever she wants to; but don’t sell her at all for money. Don’t deal with her as a slave, because you’ve disgraced her.
[15-17] If someone has two wives, one loved, and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated have had children; and if the firstborn child belongs to the one who was hated; then when the children inherit what the father has, he may not make the child of the loved get the inheritance of the firstborn over the child of the hated, who’s the firstborn. He’ll acknowledge the firstborn, the child of the hated, by giving that child a double part of everything; for the firstborn is the first of his strength and has the right of the firstborn.
[18-21] If someone has a stubborn and rebellious child, who won’t obey the parents, and though they discipline the child, the child won’t listen to them; then the parents will bring the child to the elders of the city, to a public place and tell the elders of the city, “This child is stubborn and rebellious, and won’t obey our voice and is worthless, and lives for pleasure.” Then everyone of the city will put the child to death. So you’ll put away the evil from you; and all Israel will hear, and fear that judgment.
[22-23] If someone has done a sin worthy of death, and they’re put to death by hanging; the body won’t be left hanging all night, but you’ll without a doubt bury it the same day because the one who’s hanged is cursed by God. Do this so that you don't make your land unfit which Yahweh your God gives you for your own.
22[1-4] Don’t watch another's bull or sheep go astray, and look the other way. You’ll without a doubt bring them back. If they don’t live near you, or if you don't know them, then you’ll bring it home to your house until they come after it, and then you’ll give it back. Do this with a donkey as well; and with a piece of clothing; and anything else that’s lost by someone that you’ve found. You may not look the other way. Don’t see your kin's donkey or his bull fallen down somewhere, and look the other way. Without a doubt, you’ll help it get up again.
[5] A woman won’t wear men's clothing, nor will a man wear women's clothing; for whoever does these things does a wrong to Yahweh God.
[6-7] If you find a bird's nest before you somewhere, in a tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, don’t take the hen with the young. Without a doubt, let the hen go, but you may take the young for yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.
[8] When you build a new house, make a rail around your roof, so that you won’t be guilty of blood, if anyone falls from there.
[9-10] Don’t plant your garden with two kinds of seed, in case the seed which you’ve planted, and what the garden would have made be lost. Don’t plow with a bull and a donkey together.
[11-12] Don’t wear clothing with wool and linen mixed together. Make tassels on the four corners of your outer clothing.
[13-17] If a man takes a wife, and has sex with her, and hates her, and says shameful things about her, and gives her a bad name, and says, I married this woman, and when I came to her, she wasn’t a virgin; then the parents of the young lady will bring the sheet of the young lady's virginity to the elders of the city in the gate; and the young lady's father will tell the elders, “I gave my daughter to this one to wife, and he hates her; and has said shameful things about her, saying, ‘She wasn’t a virgin;’ and yet here is the sheet of my daughter's virginity.” And they’ll spread the sheet before the elders of the city.
[18-21] Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him; and fine him one hundred silver dollars, and give them to the father of the young lady, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. She’ll be his wife and he may never divorce her. But if it’s true, that the sheet of her virginity were not found for the young lady; then they’ll bring the young lady to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city will put her to death, because she’s done wrong in Israel, to act like a prostitute in her father's house. So you’ll put away the evil from you.
[22-27] If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both the man who slept with the woman and the woman will die. So put away the evil from Israel. If there’s a young lady who’s a virgin that’s promised to be married to a husband, and another man finds her in the city, and has sex with her; then you’ll bring them both out to a public place of that city, and put them to death; the lady, because she didn't scream for help, being in the city; and the man, because he’s disgraced another man’s promised wife. So put away the evil from you. But if a man finds a lady who’s promised to be married out in the countryside, and forces her to have sex; then only he will die. Do nothing to her because she’s done no sin worthy of death. This matter is like when someone comes against another to kill them because he found the lady who was promised to be married out in the countryside, but when she screamed for help there was no one there to save her.
[28-29] If a man finds a lady who’s a virgin, but who’s not promised to be married, and has sex with her, and they’re caught; then the one who lay with her will give to the lady's father fifty silver dollars, and she’ll be his wife, because he has disgraced her and he may never divorce her.
[30] A man won’t have sex with his stepmother or any other woman that belongs to his father.
23[1-2] A man who’s wounded in the testicles, or has his private part cut off, won’t go into the assembly of Yahweh. An illegitimate child won’t go into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation will none of their children go into the assembly of Yahweh.
[3-5] An Ammonite or a Moabite won’t go into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation will none belonging to them go into the assembly of Yahweh forever, because they didn't meet you with bread and water when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, against you to curse you. But Yahweh your God wouldn't listen to Balaam and turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you. So don’t try to make peace with them nor help them at all, forever.
[7-8] Don’t hate an Edomite; for they are your kin. Don’t hate an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in their land. The people who are born of the third generation to them will go into the assembly of Yahweh.
[9-14] When you go against your enemies, then keep from everything that’s evil. If there’s anyone among you, who’s not fit because of something that happened at night, then they’ll go out of the camp, and not come back. But when evening comes at sun down, they’ll take a bath and come back to camp. Also, have a place outside of camp, where you’ll go to relieve yourself. Have a shovel among your weapons and when you sit down, dig a hole, and cover up your waste, because Yahweh your God walks with you in your camp to save you, and to give your enemies into your power. So your camp will be holy, that God may not see anything unfit in you, and turn away from you.
[15-16] Don’t give back a worker who ran away from the owner to you. They’ll live with you, wherever they want to live on your property. Don’t abuse them.
[17-18] Don’t let there be prostitutes among the daughters of Israel, nor let there be homosexuals among the sons of Israel. Don’t bring the money of a prostitute, or a homosexual, into the house of Yahweh your God for any promise because both of these are wrong to Yahweh your God.
[19-20] Don’t lend on interest to your kin; interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that’s lent on interest. You may lend to a foreigner on interest, but don’t lend to your kin on interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you do in the land where you go to take for your own.
[21-23] When you make a promise to Yahweh your God, don’t neglect to do it, because Yahweh your God will, without a doubt, hold you responsible for it; and it would be a sin to you not to keep it. But if you don’t make any promises, you won’t sin. Whatever you say you’ll keep and do; just as you’ve promised to Yahweh your God, an offering of your own freewill, which you’ve promised with your own mouth.
[24-25] When you come into someone’s vineyard, then you may eat your fill of grapes at your own pleasure; but don’t take any away with you. When you come into someone’s garden, then you may pick the crop with your hand; but don’t go in to use a tool to harvest their crop.
24[1-4] When someone takes a wife, and marries her, then if she isn’t loved, because he has found something wrong with her, then he’ll write her a bill of divorce, and give it to her, and send her out of his house. When she has left his house, she may go and be another man's wife. If the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it to her, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she’s been made unfit; for that’s wrong to Yahweh. Don’t cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for your own.
[5] When someone takes a new wife, he’ll not go out in the army, nor will he be given a job to do, but he’ll be free at home one year, and will make the wife he has taken happy.
[6] No one will take what someone needs to make a living for a promise; then you would take someone's life for a promise.
[7] If someone is found taking any of his kin of the people of Israel, and treats them as a slave, or sells them; then that thief will die. So put away the evil from you.
[8-9] Be careful with the disease of leprosy, that you carefully keep, and do all that the priests, the Levites, teach you. Just as I told them, so you’ll do. Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam, on the way as you came out of Egypt.
[10-13] When you lend someone any kind of loan don’t go into their house to get what was promised. You’ll stand outside, and the one to whom you lend will bring out what was promised to you. If it’s a poor person, don’t keep their property overnight; you’ll without a doubt give back what they own when the sun goes down, so that they may have use of it, and bless you: and you will be thought of as good by Yahweh your God.
[14-15] Don’t abuse hired workers who are poor and needy, whether they are your kin or a foreigner who is in your land where you live. Give them what they earn each day, and don’t let the sun go down on it because they are poor, and set their heart on it: in case they cry against you to Yahweh. It’s sin to you.
[16] The parents won’t be put to death for the children, nor will the children be put to death for the parents, but every one will be put to death for their own sin.
[17-18] Don’t judge wrongly in the case of a foreigner, or an orphan, nor take the death survivor's clothing for a promise; but remember that you were workers in Egypt, and Yahweh your God freed you there: so I tell you to do this.
[19-21] When you gather in your harvest, and have forgot a sheaf in the field, don’t go back to get it, but leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the death survivor; so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you do. When you beat your olive tree, don’t go over the branches again, but leave what’s left for the foreigner, the orphan, and the death survivor. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, don’t pick it again afterwards. Leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the death survivor.
[22] Remember that you were workers in the land of Egypt. This is why I tell you to do this.
25[1-3] If there’s an argument between two people, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they’ll justify the one who’s right, and punish the one who’s wrong. If the one who’s wrong deserves to be beaten, the judge will make them lie down, and be beaten in front of him, the number of times the wrong deserves. He may give no more than forty stripes; in case, if he should go over this, and give many more stripes, then you would be ashamed of one of your people.
[4] Don’t keep the bull from eating from the grain when it works in it.
[5-10] If brothers live together, and one of them dies, and has no children, the wife of the dead won’t be married outside the family to a stranger, but her brother-in-law will marry her, and have sex with her, and do the duty of a brother-in-law to her, so that the firstborn whom she has will take the name of the one who died, so that his name won’t be lost to Israel. If the brother-in-law doesn't want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife will go to a public place before the elders, and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to give me a child in his brother’s name for Israel; he won’t do the duty of a husband's brother to me.” Then the elders of the city will call him, and speak to him and if he still says, “I don't want to take her; then his brother's wife will come to him along with the elders, and shame him, and spit in his face; and say, “So it will be done to the one who doesn’t build up his brother's family.” And his name will be called in Israel, “The house of him who has been shamed.”
[11-12 ] When men fight with one another, and the wife of one comes to save her husband from the one who’s fighting him, and puts out her hand and grabs him by the private part; then you’ll cut off her hand, and have no pity.
[13-16] Don’t practice dishonesty either in business or at home. Be fair so that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. For all who do dishonest things, do evil, and are wrong to Yahweh God.
[17] Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt; how he met you on the way, and attacked all of those who were in the rear, all those who were weak who fell behind you, when you were faint and tired; and he didn't fear God. So when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies around in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for your own, wipe Amalek’s memory from off the face of the earth; Don’t forget.
26[1-10] When you come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you for your own, and take ownership of it, and live in it, take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you; and put it in a basket, and go to the place which Yahweh your God chooses for God’s name to be. Come to the priest who will rule at that time, and tell him, “I say today to Yahweh my God, that I’m come to the land which Yahweh promised to our ancestors to give us.” The priest will take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the altar of Yahweh your God. Then say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to die; and he went down into Egypt, and stayed there, few in number; and he became a nation there, great and strong, with many people. The Egyptians treated us badly and troubled us, and gave us hard work to do: and we cried to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, and Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our troubles, hard work, and abuse; and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with great power, and force, and with great terror, and with signs, and with amazing things; and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land full of milk and honey. Now, See, I’ve brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” Then you’ll set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship Yahweh God.
[11-15] Be happy in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you and your family, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who’s with you. When you’ve given ten percent of what you have in the third year, which is the year when this is done, then you’ll give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the death survivor, that they may eat where you live, and be filled. You’ll say before Yahweh your God, “I’ve brought the holy things out of my house, and have given them to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the death survivor, according to all Your judgments which you’ve told me: I haven’t disobeyed any of your Laws, nor have I forgotten them. I haven’t eaten of it when in mourning, nor have I taken any of it for use when unfit, nor given any of it for the dead. I’ve listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I’ve done all that you’ve told me. Look down from your holy place in heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you’ve given us, as you promised to our ancestors, a land full of milk and honey.”
[16-19] Today Yahweh your God tells you to do these laws and rules, so keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul. You’ve told Yahweh today to be your God, and said that you would follow God’s ways, and keep God’s laws, judgments, and rules, and listen to God’s words: and Yahweh has told you today to be a people worthy to be called God’s own, as was promised you, and that you should keep all God’s Laws. So God will put you high above all nations that God has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, so that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, just as God said.

Deuteronomy (The Second Copy of the Law) Chapters 16-20

Deuteronomy
(The Second Copy of the Law)
Chapters 16-20

16[1-4] Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God in the month of Abib (March-April); for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice the Passover offering to Yahweh your God, out of the flock and the herd, in the place where Yahweh chooses for God’s name to be. You’ll eat no bread made with yeast with it; for seven days you’ll eat bread made without yeast, even the bread of trouble because you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry, so that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt as long as you live. There will be no yeast seen with you wherever you live for seven days; nor will any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, be left over until the morning.
[5-8] You may not sacrifice the Passover where you live, which Yahweh your God gives you; but at the place which Yahweh your God chooses for God’s name to be, you’ll sacrifice the Passover at evening, at sun set, at the season that you came out of Egypt. You’ll roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses: and in the morning, go back to your tents. Six days you’ll eat bread made without yeast; and on the seventh day will be a sacred assembly to Yahweh your God, in which you’ll do no work.
[9-12] Count seven weeks from the time you begin to cut the grain. You’ll keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a gift of a freewill offering of your hand, which you’ll give, according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. Then you’ll be happy before Yahweh your God, you, and your children, and your workers, and the Levite who is where you live, and the foreigner, and the orphan, and the death survivor, who are with you, in the place where Yahweh your God chooses for God’s name to be. Remember that you were workers in Egypt, so keep and do these laws.
[13-17] You’ll keep the feast of tents seven days, after you’ve gathered in your harvest and made your wine: and you’ll be happy in your feast, you, and your children, and your workers, and the Levite, and the foreigner, and the orphan, and the death survivor, who are where you live. Seven days you’ll keep a feast to Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh chooses; because Yahweh your God will bless you in everything you grow, and in all the work of your hands, and you’ll be altogether joyful. Three times a year your males will go before Yahweh your God in the place which God chooses, in the feast of bread made without yeast, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents. You won’t go before Yahweh empty-handed, but everyone will give as you’re able, according to the blessing Yahweh your God has given you.
[18-22] Make judges and officers where you live that Yahweh your God gives you, according to your family groups. They’ll judge the people with good judgment. Don’t be unfair. Don’t think about who a person is, nor take a bribe from anyone; for a bribe closes the eyes of the wise, and changes the words of the good. Do only what is fair so that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. Don’t plant a grove of any kind of tree used for false worship beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you’ll make, nor set up any false god, which Yahweh your God hates.
17[1-7] Don’t sacrifice to Yahweh your God a bull, or a sheep, which has something wrong with it, because that’s wrong to Yahweh your God. If there’s found with you, where you live which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman, who does what’s evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in disobeying the promised agreement, and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the heavenly bodies, which I’ve not told you to do; and it’s told you, and you’ve heard of it, then you’ll carefully ask about it; and see, if it’s true. If you’re sure that such wrong was done in Israel, then you’ll bring forth that person, who has done this evil thing, to your courts, and you’ll put them to death with stones. At the word of two or three witnesses, will the one who is to die be put to death; at the word of only one witness they’ll not be put to death. The witnesses will be the first ones to put them to death, and afterward all the rest of the people. So you’ll put the evil away from you.
[8-13] If there’s anything too hard for you to judge as to who’s guilty in a death, or who’s right or wrong, or who hit who first in a fight, and there’s a difference of opinion where you live; then you’ll go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses; and you’ll come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who’s ruling at that time: and you’ll ask; and they’ll give the sentence of judgment. Do whatever the sentence which they give you is from that place which Yahweh chooses; and do whatever they say to you. Do just what the law which they teach you means, and according to the judgment which they tell you. Don’t change from the sentence which they give you. Anyone who thinks they know better and doesn’t listen to the priest who stands to minister before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, will die; so put away that evil from Israel. All the people will hear about it, and fear God’s judgment, and won’t do this any more.
[14-20] When you come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and take ownership of it, and live in it, and say, I’ll set a ruler over me, like all the nations that are around me; you’ll without a doubt set a ruler over you, whom Yahweh your God chooses. When you set a ruler over you, it must be one of your kin; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not of your kin. Only the ruler must not have many horses, nor cause the people to go back to Egypt to get many horses; because Yahweh has told you, “From now on you won’t go back there any more.” Nor will the ruler have many wives that will turn his heart away; nor will the ruler have much silver and gold. When the ruler takes power on the throne, a copy of this law will be written in a book, from what is before the priests, the Levites. The ruler will keep it, and read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to respect Yahweh God, to keep all the words of this law and to do these laws, so that he won’t believe himself to be better than his people, and that he won’t turn away from the judgments, and so that he may prolong his rule, he and his children, in Israel.
18[1-8] The priests, the Levites, all the family group of Levi, will have no part, nor inheritance with Israel. They’ll eat God’s share of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. They’ll have no inheritance among their kin: Yahweh is their inheritance, as God has told them. The shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach muscles will be the priests' due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it’s a bull or a sheep that they give to the priest. Give the first part of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. For Yahweh your God has chosen these out of all your family groups, to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh for ever. If a Levite comes from anywhere in Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes to the place which Yahweh chooses and wants to serve with all his heart; then he’ll minister in the name of Yahweh God, as all his kin, the Levites do, who stand before Yahweh. They’ll eat the same parts as the others do, besides what comes of the sale of whatever he owns.
[9-14] When you come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, don’t learn to do the wrongs of those nations. Don’t let there be found with you anyone who kills their children for a sacrifice, anyone who seeks knowledge by supernatural means, or uses witchcraft, or casts spells, or uses magic, or magic charms, a fortune teller or anyone who talks to the dead, or prays to a false god. For whoever does these things wrongs Yahweh; and because of these wrongs, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. Be perfect with Yahweh your God. For these nations that you’ll take ownership of listen to those who practice witchcraft, and try to get knowledge by supernatural means; but as for you, Yahweh your God won’t let you do so.
[15-19] Yahweh your God will raise up for you a great Preacher from you, out of your own kin, like me; who you’ll listen to; just like you wanted of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Don’t let us hear the voice of Yahweh God again, nor let us see this great fire any more, that we don’t die.” So Yahweh said to me, “What they’ve said is good. I’ll raise them up a great Preacher from among their kin, like you; who I’ll give My words to, and who will tell them all that I say. And whoever won’t listen to My words which are said in My name by that Preacher, will be responsible for it.
[20-22] But the great preacher, who speaks a word in my name without knowledge, which I’ve not told him to say, or who speaks in the name of other gods, will die. If you say in your heart, “How will we know the word which Yahweh hasn’t spoken?” When a great preacher speaks in the name of Yahweh, if what is said doesn't happen, that’s what Yahweh hasn’t spoken and that preacher has spoken it without knowledge, so don’t be afraid of him.
19[1-6] When Yahweh your God will cut off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you take their place, and live in their cities, and in their houses; set apart three cities for you with your land, which Yahweh your God gives you for your own. Make roads, and divide your land which Yahweh your God gives you into three parts, that every killer may run there. The killer, who kills someone by accident, and didn't hate them in the past, should go there to live. An example would be when a man goes into the forest with a friend to cut wood, and he swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head of the axe flies off the handle, and hits the friend, who dies. That person will run to one of these cities and live, in case someone whose angry wants revenge and chases the killer and catches them, because it takes them too long to get there, and kills them when they weren’t worthy of death, because they didn't hate the person who was killed in the past.
[7-13] So I tell you, set apart three cities for you. If Yahweh your God adds to your land, as God has promised your ancestors, and gives you all the land which was promised to your ancestors; and if you’ll keep all these judgments and do them, which I tell you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to follow God’s ways; then you’ll add three more cities for you, besides these three, so that innocent blood won’t be shed in your land, which Yahweh your God gives you for your own, and so you won’t be guilty of innocent blood. But if anyone hates someone, and plans to kill them, and rises up against them, and kills them, and runs into one of these cities; then the elders of the city where it happened will send for and bring that person back, and turn them over to the one who wants revenge to be killed. Don’t pity that person, but put away the one who took innocent blood from Israel, so that you’ll be blessed.
[14-21] Don’t remove someone’s landmark, which they’ve set up in the past, in your land which you’ll inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you for your own. One witness won’t rise up against someone for any fault or sin, in any sin that’s done. Only at the word of two or three witnesses will anything be thought to be true. If a liar rises up against anyone to testify against them of wrong-doing, then both of those who are fighting will stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who rule at the time. The judges will carefully ask questions and see if the person is lying, and has testified falsely against the other; then you’ll do to that person what they planned to do to the other, so you’ll put away the evil from you. Those who are left will hear about it, and fear judgment, and won’t do such evil anymore. Don’t pity them; whatever they planned to do to the other, do to them.
20[1-8] When you go to war against your enemies, and see all their equipment, and that they’ve more people than you, don’t be afraid of them because Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When you go near to the battlefield, the priest will go up and speak to the people, and will tell them, “Listen, Israel, today you’re going to fight your enemies: don't be fainthearted; don't be afraid, nor shake in fear, nor be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and save you.” The officers will speak to the people, saying, “Who is there who has built a new house, and hasn’t dedicated it? Let them go home, in case they die in the battle, and another person dedicate it. Who is there who has planted a garden, and hasn’t gathered in its harvest? Let them go home, in case they die in the battle, and another gets it. Who is there who has promised to be married, and hasn’t done it? Let them go home, in case they die in the battle, and someone else marries their promised one. The officers will speak further to the people, and say, Who is there who is afraid and fainthearted? Let them go home, in case they influence the others.
[9-15] When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they’ll appoint leaders of the troops to lead the people. When you near a city to fight against it, then try to make peace to it. If it makes peace, and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it will pay taxes to you, and will serve you. If it won’t make peace with you, but make war against you instead, then you’ll surround it. When Yahweh your God gives it into your power, you’ll kill every male, but the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all the stuff that’s in the city, you’ll take for yourself; and you’ll eat the food of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. Do this to all the cities which are very far away from you, which aren’t of the cities of these nations.
[16-20] But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for your own, don’t save alive anything that breathes; but completely destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has told you so that they won’t teach you to do the wrong things, which they’ve done for their gods; so you would sin against Yahweh your God. When you surround a city to take it for a long time, while making war against it, don’t destroy the trees around it by taking an axe to them. You may eat of them, so don’t cut them down. The tree of the field isn’t a person that it should be destroyed by you. Destroy and cut down only the trees which you know aren’t trees for food; and you’ll build towers to attack the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

Deuteronomy (The Second Copy of the Law) Chapters 11-15

Deuteronomy
(The Second Copy of the Law)
Chapters 11-15

11[1-] So you’ll love Yahweh your God, and keep his charge, and his laws, and his rules, and his Laws, always. Know today: for I don't speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the greatness, the power, and the strength, of the punishment of Yahweh your God, and the signs and works, which God did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the ruler of Egypt, and to all his land; and what God did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how God made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to today; and what God did to you in the countryside, until you came to this place; and what God did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the children of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their families, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel.
[7-12] But your eyes have seen all the great work which Yahweh did. So keep all the judgments which I tell you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take the land, where you go for your own; and that you may live long in the land, which Yahweh promised to your ancestors to give to them and to their descendants, a land full of milk and honey. For the land, where you go to take for your own, isn't as the land of Egypt, from where you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land, where you go over for your own, is a land of hills and valleys, and is watered by the rain of the sky, a land which Yahweh your God cares for: Yahweh your God always watches over it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.
[13-17] If you listen carefully to My Laws which I tell you today, to love and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, then I’ll give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil. I’ll give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be full. Be careful, in case your heart is misled, and you turn away, and serve false gods, and worship them; and Yahweh gets angry with you, and shuts up the sky, so that there’s no rain, and the land won’t give its harvest; and you die quickly from off the good land which Yahweh gives you.
[18-21] So lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul; and you’ll bind them for a sign on your hand, and they’ll be for symbols between your eyes. Teach them to your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. Write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates; that you and your children may live a long time, in the land which Yahweh promised to your ancestors to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.
[22-25] For if you’ll carefully keep all these judgments which I tell you to do, to love Yahweh your God, to follow God’s ways, and to hold on to God; then will Yahweh drive out all these nations from before you, and you’ll take ownership of nations greater and stronger than yourselves. Every place where the sole of your foot will walk will be yours: from the countryside, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the sea will be your border. No one will be able to stand before you: Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you’ll walk on, as God has told you.
[26-32] See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you’ll listen to the Laws of Yahweh your God, which I tell you today; and the curse, if you don’t listen to the Laws of Yahweh your God, but turn away from what I tell you today, to go after false gods, which you’ve not known. And when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go for your own, that you’ll set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. Aren't they across the Jordan, to the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah desert, next to Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? Pass over the Jordan to go in and take the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and take ownership of it, and live in it. Keep all the laws and the rules which I set before you today.
12[1-3] These are the laws and the rules which you’ll keep and do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has given you for your own, as long as you live on the earth. You’ll without a doubt destroy all the places in which the nations that you’ll take ownership served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. Break down their altars, and chop their posts in pieces, and burn down the trees used to worship Asherah. Cut down the carved images of their false gods; and destroy their name out of that place.
[4-7] Don’t do so to Yahweh your God. But you’ll regularly come to the place which Yahweh your God will choose out of all your family groups, where God’s name is, even to God’s house; and there you’ll bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your Give ten percents, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. You’ll eat there before Yahweh your God, and you’ll be happy in all that you put your hand to, you and your families, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.
[8-11] Don’t do what we do here today, everyone doing whatever is right in their own eyes; You haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you. But when you go over the Jordan, and live in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you live in safety; then you’ll go to the place which Yahweh your God will choose, where God’s name is, and there you’ll bring all that I tell you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your Give ten percents, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your special vows which you vow to Yahweh.
[12-16] You’ll be happy before Yahweh your God, you and your children, and your workers, and the Levite who is where you live, who has no part of the inheritance with you. Be careful that you don't offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but only in the place which Yahweh will choose in one of your family groups, there you’ll offer your burnt offerings, and there you’ll do all that I tell you. But you may kill and eat meat such as the antelope and deer wherever you live, whatever you want, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which God has given you and both the unfit and the fit may eat it. Only don’t eat the blood; but pour it out on the earth as water.
[17-20] You may not eat where you live the Give ten percent of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; but you’ll eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God will choose, you, and your children, and your workers, and the Levite who is where you live: and you’ll be happy before Yahweh your God in all that you do. Be careful not to stop taking care of the Levite as long as you live in your land. When Yahweh your God adds to your land, as was promised, and you say, I’ll eat meat, because you want to eat meat; you may eat as much meat as you want.
[21-25] If the place which Yahweh your God chooses, where God’s name is, is too far from you, then you’ll kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I’ve told you; and you may eat where you live, as much as you want. Just as the antelope and deer are eaten, so you’ll eat it. The unfit and the fit may eat of it alike. Only be sure that you don't eat the blood, because the blood is the living soul of the animal; and don’t eat the living soul with the meat. Don’t eat it; but pour it out on the earth as water. Don’t eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you do what’s right to Yahweh.
[26-28] Only your holy things, and your vows, you’ll take, and go to the place which Yahweh will choose: and you’ll offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; and the blood of your sacrifices will be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God; and you’ll eat the meat there. Keep and listen to all these words which I tell you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do what’s good and right to Yahweh your God.
[29-32] When Yahweh your God will cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to take ownership of them, and you take ownership of them, and live in their land; be careful to not be trapped into following after them, after they’re destroyed from before you. Don’t ask questions about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? I’ll do the same as they did. Don’t do this to Yahweh your God, because every wrong to God, which Yahweh hates, have they done for their gods; for they even burn their children in the fire to their gods. Whatever I tell you, that you’ll do: Don’t add to it, or take away from it.
13[1-5] If a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams comes to you, and gives you a sign or an amazing thing, and it comes to pass what was told you, saying, “Let’s go after other gods,” which you’ve not known, and “Let’s serve them;” Don’t listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams because Yahweh your God will test you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You’ll follow after and respect Yahweh your God, and keep God’s Laws, and obey God’s voice, and you’ll serve and hold on to Yahweh. That prophet or dreamer of dreams will be put to death, who has spoken against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and freed you out of the place of hard work and slaving, to draw you away from what Yahweh your God told you to go in. So you’ll put away the evil from you.
[6-10] If your brother or sister, the children of your mother, or your own children, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, tempt you secretly, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods, which you’ve not known, you, nor your ancestors; of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other; Don’t agree to it, nor listen. Don’t pity that person, nor spare them, nor hide them, but you’ll, without a doubt, kill him; your hand will be first to put that person to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. Stone them to death with stones, because they have tried to draw you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of hard work and slaving.
[11-16] All Israel will listen, and fear, and won’t do any more such evil as this which is done where you are. If you’ll hear about one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to live there that some base evil people have gone out from you, and have drawn away the people of their city, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods, which you’ve not known; then you’ll look into it, and search and ask carefully; and see, if it’s true that such wrong has been done there. If so, then you’ll without a doubt kill the people of that city in war, destroying it completely, and everything that’s in it, including the livestock in the war. You’ll gather all its stuff into the middle of the street, and burn the city and everything in it with fire, to Yahweh your God. It’ll be a heap forever and never be built again.
[17-18] Don’t take anything of that which is to be dedicated to God; that Yahweh may not be angry, and will show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and let you have many children, as was promised to your ancestors; when you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and keep all God’s Laws which I tell you today, and do what’s right by Yahweh your God.
14[1-2] You’re the people of Yahweh your God. Don’t cut yourselves, nor shave your head for the dead. You’re a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be God’s own people, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
[3-8] Don’t eat anything that’s bad for you. These are the animals which you may safely eat: the tame bull, sheep, and goat, the deer, and the antelope, and the roebuck, the mountain goat, the wild ox, and the mountain sheep. You may eat every animal that has a parted hoof that splits in two, and chews the cud, among the animals. But don’t eat those that re-chew their food, or of those who have the split hoof like the camel, the hare, and the rabbit; because they re-chew their food but don't have a split hoof, so they’re unfit for you. Don’t eat the pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn't re-chew its food, so it’s unfit for you. Don’t eat of their meat, and don’t touch their dead bodies.
[9-21] These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales may you eat; and whatever doesn't have fins and scales don’t eat; It’s unfit for you. All fit birds you may eat. But don’t eat the eagle, vulture, buzzard, hawk, the falcon, and raven after its kind, male or female ostriches, cuckoo, or any kind of bird of prey, owl, seagull, ibis, pelican, bustard, stork, heron, desert lark, and bat. Every insect with wings is unfit for you, so don’t eat them, but all fit birds you may eat. Don’t eat anything that dies naturally. You may give it to the foreigner living among you to eat who is where you live; or you may sell it to a foreigner, but you’re a holy people to Yahweh your God. Don’t boil a kid in its mother's milk.
[22-26] Give ten percent of everything grown by your seed in the field each year. You’ll eat before Yahweh your God, in the place chosen by God, where God’s name is, the ten percent of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to respect Yahweh your God always. If the place is too long and too far from you so that you’re not able to carry it to where Yahweh your God chooses, where God’s name is, when Yahweh your God blesses you; then you’ll sell it for money, and take the money and go to the place where Yahweh your God chooses. There you’ll give the money for whatever you want, for bulls, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever else your soul asks of you; and you’ll eat there before Yahweh your God, and you and your family will be happy.
[27-29] Don’t forsake the Levite who is where you live; for he has no part nor inheritance with you. At the end of every three years you’ll bring the whole ten percent of your income in the same year, and will save it up where you live. So the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner living among you, and the orphan, and the survivor, who are where you live, will come, and eat and be satisfied; so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work which you do.
15[1-6] At the end of every seven years you’ll make a release. This is the kind of release where every creditor will release what they have lent to their neighbor; and not demand it of the neighbor or a family member; because Yahweh's release has been made known. You may demand it of a foreigner, but whatever of yours is with one of your own people you’ll release. If you carefully listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep and do all these judgments which I tell you today, there will be no poor with you because Yahweh will without a doubt bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for your own. For Yahweh your God will bless you, as was promised you: and you’ll lend to many nations, but won’t borrow; and you’ll rule over many nations, but they won’t rule over you.
[7-11] If there’s a poor person with you, one of your kin, where you live in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, don’t be hardhearted, nor shut your hand from your poor people; but you’ll without a doubt give to them, and lend them whatever they need. Don’t let there not be an evil thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand;” and you think evil against your poor. If you give them nothing and they cry to Yahweh against you, it will be a sin to you. You’ll without a doubt give to them, and your heart won’t be grieved when you give to them; because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to for what you did. For the poor will never be completely out of the land, so I tell you, saying, you’ll without a doubt open your hand to your kin, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.
[12-18] If your kin, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, and serves you for six years; then in the seventh year you’ll let them go free from you. When you let them go free from you, don’t let them go empty handed. Provide for them well out of your animals, and out of your gardens, and out of your winepress; as Yahweh your God has blessed you, so give to them. Remember that you were workers in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God freed you: so I tell you this thing today. But if they tell you, I won’t leave you; because they love you and your family, because they have been well taken care of with you; then you’ll pierce their ear, and they’ll be your worker forever. Do this to your male and female workers. It won’t seem hard to you, when you let them go free from you; for they were worth double the price of hired worker and have served you six years, and Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.
[19-23] All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock you’ll set apart for Yahweh your God. Do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You and your family will eat it before Yahweh your God each year in the place which Yahweh chooses. Don’t sacrifice it to Yahweh your God if it has any thing at all wrong with it, as if it’s lame or blind, or has anything else wrong with it. You’ll eat it where you live. Both the unfit and the fit will eat it alike, just as an antelope or a deer. Only don’t eat its blood, but pour it out on the ground as water.