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.

And so I am ordering you to see that three towns are marked out for this purpose.

provided you keep every one of these commands I am giving you today and follow them, loving the Lord your God and walking in His ways at all times—you are to add three more cities to these three.

The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death.

then both the men who are disagreeing shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days.

The judges are to make a careful investigation, and if the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,

and those who are left do hear and fear, and add not to do any more according to this evil thing in thy midst;

And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,

And he shall say to them, 'Hear, Israel, you are near {today} to the battle against your enemies; {do not lose heart}; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not panic, and you shall not be terrified {because of them},

For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.

“The officers are to address the army, ‘Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.

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."

It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.

If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it.

Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

"You are not to leave even one person alive in the cities of these nations that the LORD your God is about to give you as an inheritance.

"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}?

Only the trees which you know that they are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. And you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:

The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work.

and are to lead the heifer to a flowing stream in a valley that has never been tilled or planted. They are to break the heifer's neck there.

Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:

and they are to make this declaration: "Our hands didn't shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to the crime.

you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,

Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.

then his parents are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city.

Then they are to declare to the elders of their city: "Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He does not obey us. He lives wildly and is a drunkard.'

Then all the men of his city are to stone him with boulders so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will be afraid."

you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If your brother does not live near you or you don’t know him, you are to bring the animal to your home to remain with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you can return it to him.

And thus [also] you shall do regarding his donkey, and thus you shall do concerning his garment, and so you shall do with respect to all [of] the lost property of your countryman that is lost from him and you find it; you are not allowed to withhold help.

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

"If a bird's nest is found {before you} on the road in any tree or on the ground, [and there are] chicks or eggs, and the mother [is] lying down on the chicks or the eggs, you shall not take the mother along with the young;

If you are building a house, make a railing for the roof, so that the blood of any man falling from it will not come on your house.

And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

Then the responsible men of the town are to give the man his punishment;

They will take from him a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the father of the girl, because he has given an evil name to a virgin of Israel: she will go on being his wife, he may never put her away all his life.

But if this thing is true and tokens of virginity are not found for the girl,

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 is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel.

then the two must be brought to the city gate and there they must be stoned to death the girl because she was in a city but did not cry out for help, and the man who abused a woman who was engaged to another man. By doing this you are to remove this evil from among you.

If a man finds a girl, a virgin not engaged, and lays hold on her, and lies with her, and they are found,

One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation.

Don't detest Edomites, since they are related to you. Don't detest Egyptians, either, because you were strangers in their land.

The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

“When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive.

You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine.

For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you

"There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel.

Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

You may lend on interest to the foreigner, but to your countryman you may not lend on interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you {in all your undertakings} in {the land where you are going}, {in order to take possession of it}.

"When you come into the vineyard of your neighbor, then you may eat grapes {as you please} and {until you are full}, but you shall not put [any] into your container.

If a man takes a wife, and after they are married she is unpleasing to him because of some bad quality in her, let him give her a statement in writing and send her away from his house.

Her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her back after she has been wife to another; for that is disgusting to the Lord: and you are not to be a cause of sin in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

If a man takes by force one of his countrymen, the children of Israel, using him as his property or getting a price for him, that thief is to be put to death: so you are to put away evil from among you.

In connection with the leper's disease, take care to keep and do every detail of the teaching of the priests, the Levites: as I gave them orders, so you are to do.

You shall wait outside, and the man [to] whom you [are] lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you.

Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

“Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.

"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.

When you are shaking the fruit from your olive-trees, do not go over the branches a second time: let some be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow.

When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't go back a second time. What remains are for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.

“If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty.

He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you.

"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,'

“If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and grabs his genitals,

you are to cut off her hand. You must not show pity.

For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.

It shall be, when you are come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell therein,

You are to take a part of the first-fruits of the earth, which you get from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place marked out by the Lord your God, as the resting-place of his name.

And you are to come to him who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give witness today before the Lord your God, that I have come into the land which the Lord made an oath to our fathers to give us.

You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:

My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there. There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.

"When you are finished {giving a tithe}, all of the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and they may be satisfied.

You have declared this very day that the LORD will be your God. You are to walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, and judgments, and obey 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 will make you high over all the nations he has made, in praise, in name, and in honour, and that you are to be a holy people to the Lord your God as he has said.

And you shall write upon them all the words of this law, when you are passed over, that you may go in unto the land which the LORD your God gives you, a land that flows with milk and honey; as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you.

Therefore it shall be when you are gone over Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.

There you are to make an altar to the Lord your God, of stones on which no iron instrument has been used.

You are to make the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones; offering on it burned offerings to the Lord your God:

There you are to sacrifice fellowship offerings, eat, and rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God.

And Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day you are become the people of the LORD your God.

For this cause you are to give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and do his orders and his laws which I give you this day.

These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali are to stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curse.

The descendants of Levi are to declare in a loud voice to every Israeli:

""Cursed is the one who makes a sculptured or cast image a detestable thing to the LORD, the work of a craftsman and sets it up secretly.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who treats his father and mother with dishonor.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's boundary stone.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

"Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father's wife, because he has disgraced his father.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with any animal.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

""Cursed is one who strikes his neighbor secretly.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'