You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.

Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor.

You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose.

When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land.

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same."

You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being.

Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you.

You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever -- it must never be rebuilt again.

You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors.

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

However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land that he is giving you as an inheritance,

For the Lord your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you.

Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned.

You must by all means lend to him and not be upset by doing it, for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt.

There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land.

you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).

You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt.

Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you.

You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice!

The witnesses must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.

Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.

When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, "I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,"

Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel.

The Levitical priests -- indeed, the entire tribe of Levi -- will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance.

They will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, to the place the Lord chooses

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you -- from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him.

I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.

I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name.

Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

You must not encroach on your neighbor's property, which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days.

The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused,

you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.

You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers,

In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier's heart as fearful as his own."

If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.

The Lord your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword.

Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict)

Do not blame your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person." Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.

In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the Lord.

Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out wickedness from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.

You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed; otherwise the entire yield, both of the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled.

They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman's father, for the man who made the accusation ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.

the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father's house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father's house. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge evil from Israel.

you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated his neighbor's fianc?e; in this way you will purge evil from among you.

You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.

When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he will surely hold you accountable as a sinner.

If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful.

If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, and regards him as mere property and sells him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security.

You must by all means return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just deed by the Lord your God.

You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel.

then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, "Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother's family line!"

His family name will be referred to in Israel as "the family of the one whose sandal was removed."

The priest will then take the basket from you and set it before the altar of the Lord your God.

You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

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.

Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

"The Levites will call out to every Israelite with a loud voice:

Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image -- something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman -- and sets it up in a secret place.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who disrespects his father and mother.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's boundary marker.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father's former wife, for he dishonors his father.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who commits bestiality.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who kills his neighbor in private.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

"If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God:

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.

Your children will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed.

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

The Lord will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions.

The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do -- yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you.

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

Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you.

The Lord will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you.

The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.

"But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:

You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field.

Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed.

Your children will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

"The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me.

The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.

He will afflict you with weakness, fever, inflammation, infection, sword, blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish.