You have been made to hear his voice from heaven so you may be instructed. And he showed you his great fire here on earth, and you heard his voice from the middle of that fire.

it was not with our ancestors that the LORD made this covenant, but with us we who are here today all of us who are now living.

but you stand here with me and I'll speak to you all the commands, decrees, and laws that you must teach them to observe in the land that I'm giving you to possess.

"Then the LORD told me, "Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them, and have cast an idol for their use.'

"You must not act as we have been doing here today, where everyone acts as they see fit,

"You won't be allowed to eat your tithe of grain, new wine, oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, your voluntary offerings that you pledged, your free-will offerings, and the works of your hands in your own cities.

"If the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the LORD has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities as much as you please.

"Set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male among your herd and flock. You must not put the firstborn of your ox to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

"Furthermore, let the officials ask the army, "Is there a man here who has built a new house but has not yet dedicated it? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.

And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard and not yet benefited from it? Let him go home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man use it.

And is there a man here who is engaged to a woman and has not yet married her? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man marry her.'

"Let the officials also speak to the army, "Is there a man here who is afraid and faint-hearted? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may demoralize his fellow soldier.'

If you see among the prisoners a beautiful woman and you desire her, then you may take her as your wife.

Bring her to your house, but shave her head and trim her nails.

Remove her prisoner's clothing and let her remain for a month in your house, mourning her parents. After that, you may become her husband and she is to become your wife.

If you aren't pleased with her and you send her away, you must not sell her for money or mistreat her, since you will have dishonored her."

"Suppose a man marries a wife, but after having sexual relations with her, he despises her,

invents charges against her, and defames her by saying, "I have married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her I found that she wasn't a virgin.'

Then the father of the young lady, along with her mother, is to bring evidence of the young lady's virginity to the elders at the gate.

The father of the young lady is to then say to the elders: "I have given my daughter to this man as a wife, but he despises her.

Now look, he has invented charges against her by saying, "I haven't found your daughter to be a virgin." But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity.' Then they are to spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

fine him 100 shekels of silver, and then give them to the young lady's father, because he defamed a virgin of Israel. She is to remain his wife and he can't divorce her as long as he lives.

they are to bring her to the door of her father's house. Then the men of the city are to stone her with boulders until she dies for doing a detestable thing in Israel acting like a prostitute while in her father's house. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.

"If a man meets a young virgin lady in the city who is engaged to be married and has sexual relations with her,

"If a man meets a girl in the country who is engaged to be married and then rapes her, the man alone the one who had sexual relations with her must die.

As for the young lady, don't do anything to her. The young lady did nothing worthy of death. This case is similar to when a man attacks his countryman and kills him.

Since he found her in the country, the engaged girl may have cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

"However, if a man meets a girl who isn't engaged to be married, and he seizes her, rapes her, and is later found out,

then the man who raped her must give 50 shekels of silver to the girl's father. Furthermore, he must marry her. Because he had violated her, he is to not divorce her as long as he lives.

"If a man chooses to enter into marriage with a woman, but she finds herself displeasing to him because he has found something objectionable about her, he must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her out of his house.

and this second husband dislikes her, he, also, must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her away from his house. Should the second husband die,

her first husband who married her and divorced her earlier must not remarry her, because she was defiled, since this is detestable to the LORD. Don't defile the land that the LORD your God is about to give you as a possession.

"When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law.

Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, "I don't want to marry her,'

then she is to approach her brother-in-law in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and say in response, "May this be done to the man who does not preserve the lineage of his brother.'

"If two men are fighting together, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband from the grasp of his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes his genitals,

you are to cut off her hand. Don't show any pity."

"You'll be engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You'll build a house, but you won't live in it. You'll plant a vineyard, but you won't harvest it.

The most tender and sensitive lady among you, who doesn't venture to touch the soles of her feet to the ground on account of her daintiness, will look with hostility in her eyes against her beloved husband, her sons, and her daughters.

She will eat her afterbirth and her newborn children secretly since there will be nothing left on account of the siege and distress with which your enemy will oppress you in your cities."

but with whoever is here with us standing in the presence of the LORD our God today, as well as with those who aren't here with us today."