And if you say {to yourself}, 'How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken to him?'

When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

When the nations, whose land the Lord your God is giving you, have been cut off by him, and you have taken their place and are living in their towns and in their houses;

“Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him:

as [for example] when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, but the iron head slips off the wooden handle and hits his companion and he dies—the offender may escape to one of these cities and live;

otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the offender in the heat of anger, and overtake him, because it is a long way, and take his life, even though he did not deserve to die, since he did not hate his neighbor beforehand.

“But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait and ambush for him and attacks him and strikes him down so that he dies, and the assailant escapes to one of these cities,

then the elders of his own city shall send for him and have him taken back from there and turn him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may be put to death.

You shall not pity him [the guilty one], but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

If a malicious witness rises up against a man to [falsely] accuse him of wrongdoing,

then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

The officers shall also speak to the soldiers, saying, ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not yet dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it.

What man has planted a vineyard and has not put it to use [harvesting its fruit]? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit.

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

Then the officers shall speak further to the soldiers and say, ‘Who is the man who is afraid and lacks courage? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not cause his brothers’ courage to fail like his own.’

“If someone is found slain, lying in the field, in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has killed him,

then your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the dead person.

and the city that is nearest unto him that is slain, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer that hath not been wrought with, that hath not drawn in the yoke;

Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall approach, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the Name (Presence) of the Lord; and every dispute and every assault (violent crime) shall be settled by them.

And all the old men of that city being near to him wounded, shall wash their hands over the heifer having her neck broken in the valley:

When thou shalt go forth to war against thine enemy, and Jehovah thy God gave him into thine hand, and thou didst take him captive,

“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have born him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife,

And it was in the day of his causing his sons to inherit what shall be to him, he shall, not be able to make the son of the loved first-born before the son of the hated, the first-born:

Instead he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved as the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he was the beginning of his strength (generative power); to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

“If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or of his mother, and when they reprimand and discipline him, he will not listen to them,

then his father and mother shall take hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.

Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

“And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death and [afterward] you hang him on a tree [as a public example],

his body shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall most certainly bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is cursed by God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

"When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countryman straying, don't go away and leave it. Instead, be sure to return it to him.

If your countryman is not nearby or you do not know him, you shall bring the animal to your house, and it shall stay with you until he searches for it; then you shall return it to him.

And so shalt thou do to his ass, and so shalt thou do to his garments, and shalt thou do to all lost things of thy brother which shall be lost from him, and thou didst find it; thou shalt not be able to hide.

You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and ignore [your duty to help] them; you shall certainly help him lift it up.

Then the elders of that city shall take the man and reprimand him,

and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the father of the young woman, because he publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives.

You must not do anything to the young woman -- she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person and murders him,

And the man lying with her gave to the maiden's father fifty of silver, and to him she shall be for a wife; because that he humbled her, he shall not be able to send her away all his days.

A person of illegitimate birth may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so.

“If there is any man among you who is [ceremonially] unclean because of nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he shall not come back to the camp.

But when evening comes near, let him take a bath: and after sundown he may come back to the tents.

He shall live among you, in the place he chooses in one of your cities where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat or oppress him.

Do not take interest from an Israelite on anything, money or food or any other goods, which you let him have

If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.

When she has left him she may go and become someone else's wife.

And the last man hated her and wrote for her a writing of cutting off, and gave in her hand, and sent her away from his house; or if the last man shall die which took her to him for a wife,

Her first husband who sent her away shall not be able to turn back to take her to be to him for a wife after that she was defiled; for it is an abomination before Jehovah: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin which Jehovah thy God gave to thee an inheritance.

When a man shall take a new wife, he shall not go out in the war, and nothing shall pass upon him for any word: he shall be free to his house one year, and gladden his wife whom he took.

“If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen from the sons of Israel, and he treats him violently or sells him [as a slave], then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom was lent to him, shall bring out to thee the pledge without

You shall certainly restore the pledge (security deposit) to him at sunset, so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you; and it will be credited to you as righteousness (right standing) before the Lord your God.

You shall give him his wages on the day that he earns them before the sun sets—for he is poor and is counting on it—so that he does not cry out to the Lord against you, and it becomes a sin for you.

Be upright in judging the cause of the man from a strange country and of him who has no father; do not take a widow's clothing on account of a debt:

then it shall be that if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with a [certain] number of stripes in proportion to his offense.

He may have him beaten forty times, but no more. He is not to be beaten with more stripes than these and he is not to be degraded [that is, treated like an animal] in your sight.

If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.

Then the elders of his city will summon him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to marry her,’

then his brother’s widow shall approach him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, ‘So it is done to that man who does not build up his brother’s household.’

In Israel his [family] name shall be, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

“If [two] men, a man and his countryman, are fighting and the wife of one approaches to rescue her husband from the man who is striking him, and she reaches out with her hand and grabs the aggressor’s genitals,

How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him.

You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground's produce that you, Lord, have given me." Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him.

Then set it in the presence of the LORD your God and worship him. Rejoice with the descendants of Levi and the foreigner among you at all the good things that the LORD your God has given you and your family."

And say before the Lord your God, I have taken all the holy things out of my house and have given them to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and him who has no father, and the widow, as you have given me orders: I have kept in mind all your orders, in nothing have I gone against them:

Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him.

And Jehovah said thee this day to be to him for a people of property, as he spake to thee, and to watch all his commands,

You shall build the altar of the Lord your God with whole [uncut] stones, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God;

You must obey him and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today."

The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him.

"The LORD will send the curse among you, will confuse you, and will rebuke you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and perish quickly because of your evil deeds, since you will have forsaken him.

And Jehovah will give thee smitten before thine enemies: in one way thou shalt go forth against him, and in seven ways shalt thou flee before his face; and thou wert for a shaking to all the kingdoms of the earth.

He will lend to you [out of his affluence], but you will not lend to him [because of your poverty]; he will be the head, and you the tail.

Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things;

so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities.

You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the Lord your God [on whom you must depend].

Your little ones, your wives and thy stranger which is in the midst of thy camp, from him cutting thy woods to him drawing thy waters:

In order to set thee this day to him for a people, and he shall be to thee for God as he spake to thee, and as he sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaak, and to Jacob.

But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:

If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:

the Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him; the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.

Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel [making an example of him], according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law.

Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,

The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Then you will again obey Him and follow all His commands I am giving you today.

if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being.

by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life, your fulfillment] and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord promised (swore) to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all [the people of] Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.

When all Israel has come before the Lord your God in the place named by him, let a reading be given of this law in the hearing of all Israel.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

And Jehovah will say to Moses, Behold thee lying down with thy fathers, and this people rising up and committing fornication after the gods of the foreigner of the land where he going there in the midst of him, and he forsook me and brake my covenant which I made with him.

And my anger was kindled against him in that day, and I forsook them, and I hid my face from them, and he was for consuming, and many evils finding him, and afflictions, and he said in that day, Is it not because God is not in the midst of me these evils find us?

For I shall bring him to the land which I sware to his fathers, flowing milk and honey; and he ate and was satisfied and was fat, and turned to other gods, and they served them and despised me and brake my covenant

And it was when many evils and afflictions shall find him, and this song testified before him for a witness: for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of his seed; for I knew his formation which he did this day, before I shall bring him to the land which I sware

Then he gave orders to Joshua, the son of Nun, saying to him, Be strong and take heart: for you are to go at the head of the children of Israel into the land which I made an oath to give them; and I will be with you.

For I know that after my death you will behave corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will come upon you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

“They (Israel) have acted corruptly toward Him.
They are not His children, because of their [moral] defect;
But are a perverse and crooked generation.

“He found him in a desert land,
In the howling wasteland of a wilderness;
He kept circling him, He took care of him,
He protected him as the apple of His eye.

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.

“So the Lord alone led him;
There was no foreign god with him.

“He made him (Israel) ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
And He made him suck honey from the rock,
And [olive] oil from the flinty rock,