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 of the descendants of Levi are to step forward, because the LORD your God chose them to serve and pronounce blessings in his name. Every case of dispute and assault is to be subject to their ruling.

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

Make atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and don't charge the blood of an innocent man against them.' Then the blood that has been shed will be atoned for.

"If you go to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your control, you may take some prisoners captive.

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."

"If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife,

"If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents, and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them,

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."

"If a man is guilty of a capital offense, is executed, and then is impaled on a tree,

"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 fellow countryman doesn't live near you or you don't know who he is, bring the animal to your house and let it remain with you until he claims it. Then return it to him.

Do the same for his donkey, his garment, and for anything lost that belongs to your fellow countryman. When you find it, you must not ignore it.

"When you encounter a bird's nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on its chicks or eggs, don't take the mother along with its young.

You may take the young, but be sure to release the mother, so that life will go well for you and that you may have a long life.

"Don't plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, the entire crop will have to be forfeited, both the seed that you have sown and the produce from it.

"Don't plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

"Don't wear material made from wool and linen mixed together.

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.'

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.

But if this charge is true, and the evidence of the young lady's virginity wasn't found,

"If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman, then both of them must die the man who had sex with the woman and the woman herself so that this evil will be removed from Israel.

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

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 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.

"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,

No Ammonite or Moabite may participate in the assembly of the LORD, and none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, to the tenth generation,

because they didn't come to meet you with food and water along the way as you were coming out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Beor's son Balaam from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

However, the LORD your God didn't listen to Balaam. The LORD your God turned Balaam's curse into a blessing, because the LORD your God loves you.

If someone among you becomes unclean due to nocturnal emissions, he must leave the camp and stay outside.

Include a spade among your equipment so that when you squat to relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and then cover your excrement.

For the LORD your God is on the move within your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp must be holy so that he will not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you."

Don't bring the earnings of a female prostitute nor the income of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God as payment for any vow. Both of these are detestable to the LORD your God."

You may charge interest to a foreigner, but don't charge interest to your relatives, so the LORD your God may bless you in everything you undertake in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

"When you make a vow to the LORD your God, don't delay paying it, because the LORD your God will certainly demand payment from you, and then you will be guilty of sin.

"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 a man is newly married, he must not be sent out to war or have a related duty placed on him. Let him stay home for one year and be happy with his wife whom he has married.

"If a man is found kidnapping his relative, a fellow Israeli, and mistreats or sells him, that kidnapper must die. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.

Stay outside and let the man to whom you made the loan bring it out to you.

Be sure to return his garment to him at sunset so that he may sleep with it, and he will bless you. It will be a righteous deed in the presence of the LORD your God.

Don't take advantage of a hired person who is poor and needy, whether he's your fellow citizen or a foreigner who lives in your city.

Pay his wages that same day before the sun sets, because he is poor and his livelihood depends on it. Otherwise, he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will incur guilt."

Remember to observe this because you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

"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 there is a conflict between individuals, let them come to court to judge the case, decide who is innocent, and condemn the guilty person.

If the guilty person deserves a beating, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes fit for his crime.

"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.

But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the city gate and declare, "My husband's brother refuses to perform the duty of a brother-in-law in order to preserve the name of his brother in Israel. He is not willing to 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,

"Don't have different weights in your bag one heavy and one light.

Don't have different measuring devices in your house one large and one small.

You must have honest weights and measuring devices, so you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you,

how when you were very tired and weary, they lay in wait for you on the road and eliminated everyone who was lagging behind. They had no fear of God.

"When you arrive in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you as an inheritance, take possession of it and settle in it.

Gather all the first produce of the ground that you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is about to give you, place it in a basket, and bring it to the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.

Approach the priest who is in charge at that time and say to him, "I acknowledge today to the LORD your God that I've arrived in the land that the LORD promised our ancestors to give us.'

Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

Then you are to affirm and declare in the presence of the LORD your God:

"A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, who went down to Egypt and traveled there with very few family members, yet there he became a great, powerful, and populous nation. But the Egyptians oppressed us, afflicted us, and assigned us to hard labor.

So we cried out to the LORD God of our ancestors, and he heard our cries and observed our affliction, trouble, and oppression.

The LORD brought us out of Egypt with his awesome power, with great terror, signs, and wonders.

And then we arrived at this place, and he gave this land to us, flowing with milk and honey.

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."

"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities.

"I've removed the holy offering from my house and given it to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows just as you have commanded me. I haven't violated or forgotten your commands. I haven't eaten any part of it while mourning, nor removed any part of it while unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I've obeyed the voice of the LORD my God and did all that he commanded me.

Look down from your holy habitation in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land that you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors a land flowing with milk and honey.'"

"The LORD your God is commanding you this very day to observe these statutes and judgments. Be careful to obey them with all your heart and soul.

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.

so he may elevate you far above all the nations that he has made. Then you will live to the praise, fame, and glory of God, and so be a nation that is holy to the LORD your God, as he has promised."

Moses and the elders of Israel gave these orders to the people: "Observe all of the commandments that I'm giving you today.

On the day you cross over the Jordan River to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster.

Then inscribe on them all the words of this Law when you've crossed over into the land that the LORD your God is about to give you a land flowing with milk and honey just as the LORD God of your ancestors promised you.

"When you have crossed the Jordan River, set up these stones about which I'm commanding you today on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.

Offer a burnt offering there, then eat and rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God.

Inscribe on the stones plainly and distinctly all the words of this Law."

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to Israel. They said, "Be quiet and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of the LORD your God.

Listen to his voice and carry out his commands and statutes that I'm giving you today."

"When you cross the Jordan River, these tribes are to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

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

""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 doesn't uphold the words of this Law and observe them.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'"

"Blessed will you be in the city and blessed will you be in the country.

"Blessed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.

"Blessed will be your grain basket and your kneading bowl.

"Blessed will you be in your comings and goings.

"The LORD will make your enemies, who rise against you and attack from one direction, to flee from you in seven directions.

"The LORD will send blessings for you with regard to your barns and everything you undertake. Indeed, he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you.

"The LORD will assign you to be a holy people for himself, just as he promised you, as long as you keep his commands and walk in his ways.

"Then all the people of the earth will observe that the name of the LORDis proclaimed among you, and they will fear you.