And then [if] it will happen [that] he says to you, '{I do not want to go out} from you,' because he loves you and your family, because it is good for him [to be] with you;

then you shall take an awl, and you shall thrust [it] through his earlobe and into the door, and he shall be to you {a slave forever}; and you shall also do likewise for your slave woman.

It shall not be hard in your eyes {when you send him forth free}, because for six years he has served you [worth] twice the wage of a hired worker; and Yahweh your God will bless you {in whatever you will do}.

"Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep [the] Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt [by] night.

And leaven shall not be seen with you in any of your territory for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning.

Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day [there shall be] an assembly for Yahweh your God; you shall not do work.

"You shall count [off] seven weeks for you; {from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain} you shall begin to count seven weeks.

And [then] you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you shall give [just] as Yahweh your God has blessed you.

"You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for yourselves seven days {at the gathering in of the produce} from your threshing floor and from your press;

Seven days you shall celebrate [your] feast to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose, for Yahweh your God shall bless you in all of your produce and in all [of] the work of your hand, and you shall surely [be] rejoicing.

"You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render [for] the people {righteous judgments}.

You shall not subvert justice; you shall not {show partiality}; and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind [the] eyes of [the] wise and misrepresents [the] words of [the] righteous.

You shall not plant for yourselves {an Asherah pole} beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.

And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, [a thing] that Yahweh your God hates.

"You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or sheep {that has a physical defect} {of anything seriously wrong}, for that [is] a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.

"{If a matter is too difficult for you}, [for example disputes] between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault [and between] matters of discernment in your {towns}, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose;

Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.

"{And then} {when he is sitting} on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll {before} the Levitical priests.

"And there shall not be for the Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, a plot of ground and an inheritance with Israel, [rather] they may eat an offering made by fire [as] their inheritance, for Yahweh.

And there shall not be for them an inheritance [of land] in the midst of his brothers; [rather] Yahweh is his inheritance, [just] as he {promised} to them.

For Yahweh your God has chosen him from [among] all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, he and his sons {forever}.

[There] shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, [or] {one who practices divination}, [or] an interpreter of signs, or an augur, or sorcerer,

For everyone doing these [things] [is] detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God [is] driving them out from {before you}.

For these nations that you [are] about to dispossess listen to interpreters of signs and to diviners, but Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do the same.

"Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your countrymen, [and] to him you shall listen.

[This is] {according to all that you asked} from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, {saying}, '{I do not want again to hear} the voice of Yahweh my God, [and] I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!'

I will raise up a prophet for them {from among their countrymen} like you, and I will place my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them {everything that I command him}.

[Whenever] what the prophet spoke in the name of Yahweh, the thing does not take place and [does] not come [about], that [is] the thing that Yahweh has not spoken to him. Presumptuously the prophet spoke it; you shall not fear that prophet."

you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it.

You shall prepare the roads for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that {it will be available for any manslayer to flee there}.

{For example}, when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron [head] slips from the handle [of the tool] and strikes his neighbor and he dies, [then] he may flee to one of these cities, and [so] he may live.

[then] {if you diligently observe this entire commandment} that I [am] commanding you {today} by loving Yahweh your God and by going in his ways {at all times}, then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three.

But if someone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him {and murders him}, and [the murderer] flees to one of these cities,

{The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict} [with respect to] any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the {evidence} of two witnesses or on the {evidence} of three witnesses {a charge shall be sustained}.

{And the rest} shall hear and shall fear, and {they shall not continue to do such a thing again} as this evil thing in your midst.

{You must show no pity}: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

"If you go out to war against your enemies and you see a horse and a chariot, {an army} larger that you, you shall not be afraid because of them; for Yahweh your God [is] with you, the one who brought you from the land of Egypt.

for Yahweh your God [is] going with you to fight for you against your enemies to help you.'

{And then} if {they accept your terms of peace} and {they surrender to you}, {and then} all the people {inhabiting it} shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you.

Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you.

Thus you shall do to all the far cities from you, which [are] not from the cities of these nations located {nearby}.

so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and [thereby] you sin against Yahweh your God.

"If you besiege a town [for] many days to make war against it [in order to] seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them, for you may eat from them, and [so] you must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege {against you}?

Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every [case of] assault will be {subject to their ruling}.

"When you go out for battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your hand, and you lead the captives away,

"If a man has two wives, [and] the one [is] loved and the [other] one [is] disliked and the one loved and the one that is disliked have borne for him sons, if it happens [that] the firstborn son {belongs to the one that is disliked},

But he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the disliked [wife] {by giving} him a double portion of {all that he has}, for he [is] the firstfruit of his vigor; to him [is] the legal claim of the birthright.

Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones and let him die; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all of Israel will hear, and they will fear.

his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God [is] one that is [being] hung; so you shall not defile your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance."

you shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourselves; [do this] {so that it may go well} for you and {you may live long in the land}.

"When you build a new house then you shall make a parapet wall for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house {if anyone should fall from it}.

"You shall make tassels for yourselves on the four corners of your clothing with which you cover [yourself].

Then they shall fine him hundred [shekels of] silver, and they shall give [them] to the father of the young woman, for {he defamed an Israelite young woman}, and {she shall become his wife}; he will not be allowed {to divorce her} all his days.

"But if {this charge} was true, {and the signs of virginity were not found} for the young woman,

But you shall not do anything to the young woman, [for] there is not [reckoned] against the young woman {a sin deserving death}; {it is similar to when} a man rises up against his neighbor and murders him, {a fellow human being}, [just] so [is] this {case},

for he found her in the field, the engaged young woman cried out, but there was no rescuer {to help her}.

But Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you.

"And there shall be for you a designated place outside the camp; {and you shall go there to relieve yourself},

and a digging tool shall [be included] in addition to your [other] utensils for yourself; {and then} {when you relieve yourself} outside [the camp] you shall dig with it, and [then] you shall turn, and you shall cover your excrement.

For Yahweh your God [is] walking about in the midst of your camp to deliver you and {to hand your enemies over to you before you}, and so let your camp be holy, so that he shall not see in it {anything indecent}, and he shall turn away {from going with you}.

You may not bring the {hire} of a prostitute or {the earnings of a male prostitute} [into] the house of Yahweh your God, for any vow offerings, because {both} are a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.

"{When you make a vow} to Yahweh your God, you shall not postpone {fulfillment of it}, [for] certainly Yahweh your God shall require it from you and [if postponed] {you will incur guilt}.

and she goes from his house, and she goes [out] and becomes [a wife] {for another man},

her first husband who sent her [away] is not allowed {to take her again} to become a wife to him after she has {been defiled}, for that [is] a detestable thing {before} Yahweh, and [so] you shall not mislead into sin the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance.

"When a man takes a new wife he shall not go out with the army, and {he shall not be obligated with anything}; he shall be free from obligation, {to stay at home} for one year, and he shall bring joy [to] his wife that he took.

"A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.

"Fathers shall not be put to death because of [their] children, and children shall not be put to death because of [their] fathers; each one shall be put to death for his [own] sin.

"When you reap your harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to get it, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

When you beat off the fruit of your olive trees you shall not search through the branches afterward, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

When you harvest [grapes], you shall not glean your vineyards {again}; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

But if the man [does] not want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and she shall say, 'My brother-in-law refused {to perpetuate his brother's name} in Israel, [for] he is not willing {to marry me}.'

"There shall not be {for your use} in your bag {two kinds of stone weights, a large one and a small one}.

There shall not be in your house {for your use} {two kinds of measures}.

[Rather] a full and honest weight shall be {for your use}; there shall be for you a full and honest {measure}, so that your days on the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you may be long.

For detestable to Yahweh your God [is] everyone who [is] doing such things, everyone who [is] acting dishonestly.

that he met you on the journey and attacked you, all those lagging behind you and [when] you were weary and worn out, and he did not fear God.

Yahweh you [have] declared {today} to be for you as [your] God, and to go in his ways and to observe his rules and his commandments and his regulations and to listen to his voice.

And Yahweh [has] declared you {today} to be for him as a people, a treasured possession, as he {promised} to you, and [that you are] to observe all his commandments,

{and that he then will set you} high above all the nations that he has made for his praise and {for fame} and for honor and {for you to be a holy people} to Yahweh your God, as he {promised}."

And then on the day that you cross the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, then you shall set up {for yourselves} large stones, and you shall paint them with lime,

And you shall build an altar there for Yahweh your God, an altar of stone, but {you shall not use an iron tool to shape the stones}.

Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and hear, Israel, [for] this day you have become {a people} for Yahweh your God.

And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for [delivering] the curse: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

'Cursed be the man that makes a divine image or a cast image, [which is] a detestable thing for Yahweh, the work of the hand of a skilled craftsman, and [then] sets [it] in a hiding place.' And {all the people shall respond}, 'Amen.'

Yahweh will establish you for {himself} as a holy people as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and you walk in his ways.

And all of the peoples of the earth shall see that {by the name of Yahweh you are called}, and {they shall fear you}.

Yahweh shall open for you his {rich} storehouse, [even] the heavens, to give the rain for your land in its time and to bless all of the work of your hand, and you will lend to many nations; you will not borrow [from them].

And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be {anyone to frighten them away}.

Your sons and your daughters [shall be] given to other people, and {you will be looking on} {longingly} for them all day, {but you will be powerless to do anything}.

A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed {for the rest of your lives}.

"You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little [produce], for the locust shall devour it.

You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress [them], but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.

There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint [yourself], for your olives shall drop off.

You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be {yours}, for they shall go into captivity.

"{Because} [of the fact] that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything,

Yahweh will raise [up] against you a nation from far [off], from the end of the earth, [attacking] as the eagle swoops [down], {a nation whose language you will not understand},

And it shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground {until you are destroyed}, [and] who will not leave for you [any] grain, wine, and olive oil, {calves of your herds}, and {lambs of} your flock {until it has destroyed you}.

{by refraining from giving} to [even] one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because [there is] not anything [that is] left over for him {during the siege and distress} that your enemy inflicts upon you.

and [even] concerning her afterbirth {that goes out} from between her feet and [also] concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret {during the siege and during the distress} that your enemy inflicts upon her in your {towns}.