Bible-Reading.comDeuteronomy 14
1You are the children of the Lord your God: you are not to make cuts on your bodies or take off the hair on your brows in honour of the dead;
2For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has taken you to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth.
3No disgusting thing may be your food.
4These are the beasts which you may have for food: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;
5The hart, the gazelle, and the roe, the mountain goat and the pygarg and the antelope and the mountain sheep.
6Any beast which has a division in the horn of its foot and whose food comes back into its mouth to be crushed again, may be used for food.
7But even among these, there are some which may not be used for food: such as the camel, the hare, and the coney, which are unclean to you, because, though their food comes back, the horn of their feet is not parted in two.
8And the pig is unclean to you, because though it has a division in the horn of its foot, its food does not come back; their flesh may not be used for food or their dead bodies touched by you.
9And of the things living in the waters, you may take all those who have wings for swimming with and skins formed of thin plates.
10But any which have no skin-plates or wings for swimming, you may not take; they are unclean for you.
11All clean birds may be used for food.
12But these birds you may not take: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray;
13The falcon and the kite, and birds of that sort;
14Every raven, and all birds of that sort;
15And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk and birds of that sort;
16The little owl and the great owl and the water-hen;
17And the pelican and the vulture and the cormorant;
18The stork and the heron and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat.
19Every winged thing which goes flat on the earth is unclean to you and may not be used as food.
20But all clean birds you may take.
21You may not have as food anything which has come to a natural death; the man from another country who is living with you may take it for food, or you may get a price for it from one of another nation; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.
22Put on one side a tenth of all the increase of your seed, produced year by year.
23And make a feast before the Lord your God, in the place which is to be marked out, where his name will be for ever, of the tenth part of your grain and your wine and your oil, and the first births of your herds and your flocks; so that you may have the fear of the Lord your God in your hearts at all times.
24And if the way is so long that you are not able to take these things to the place marked out by the Lord your God for his name, when he has given you his blessing, because it is far away from you;
25Then let these things be exchanged for money, and, taking the money in your hand, go to the place marked out by the Lord your God for himself;
26And with the money get whatever you have a desire for, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your soul's desire may be: and make a feast there before the Lord your God, and be glad, you and all your house;
27And give a thought to the Levite who is living among you, for he has no part or heritage in the land.
28At the end of every three years take a tenth part of all your increase for that year, and put it in store inside your walls:
29And the Levite, because he has no part or heritage in the land, and the man from a strange country, and the child who has no father, and the widow, who are living among you, will come and take food and have enough; and so the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.
Deuteronomy 15
1At the end of every seven years there is to be a general forgiveness of debt.
2This is how it is to be done: every creditor is to give up his right to whatever he has let his neighbour have; he is not to make his neighbour, his countryman, give it back; because a general forgiveness has been ordered by the Lord.
3A man of another nation may be forced to make payment of his debt, but if your brother has anything of yours, let it go;
4But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will certainly give you his blessing in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage;
5If only you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to keep all these orders which I give you today.
6For the Lord your God will give you his blessing as he has said: you will let other nations have the use of your money, but you will not make use of theirs; you will be rulers over a number of nations, but they will not be your rulers.
7If in any of your towns in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, there is a poor man, one of your countrymen, do not let your heart be hard or your hand shut to him;
8But let your hand be open to give him the use of whatever he is in need of.
9And see that there is no evil thought in your heart, moving you to say to yourself, The seventh year, the year of forgiveness is near; and so looking coldly on your poor countryman you give him nothing; and he will make an outcry to the Lord against you, and it will be judged as sin in you.
10But it is right for you to give to him, without grief of heart: for because of this, the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all your work and on everything to which you put your hand.
11For there will never be a time when there are no poor in the land; and so I give orders to you, Let your hand be open to your countrymen, to those who are poor and in need in your land.
12If one of your countrymen, a Hebrew man or woman, becomes your servant for a price and does work for you six years, in the seventh year let him go free.
13And when you make him free, do not let him go away with nothing in his hands:
14But give him freely from your flock and from your grain and your wine: in the measure of the wealth which the Lord your God has given you, you are to give to him.
15And keep in mind that you yourself were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: so I give you this order today.
16But if he says to you, I have no desire to go away from you; because you and your family are dear to him and he is happy with you;
17Then take a sharp-pointed instrument, driving it through his ear into the door, and he will be your servant for ever. And you may do the same for your servant-girl.
18Let it not seem hard to you that you have to send him away free; for he has been working for you for six years, which is twice the regular time for a servant: and the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.
19All the first males to come to birth in your herd and your flock are to be holy to the Lord your God: the first birth of your ox is not to be used for work, the wool of your first lamb is not to be cut.
20But year by year you and all your house are to take a meal of it before the Lord, in the place of his selection.
21But if it has any mark on it, if it is blind or has damaged legs, or if there is anything wrong with it, it may not be offered to the Lord your God.
22It may be used for food in your houses: the unclean and the clean may take of it, as of the gazelle and the roe.
23Only do not take its blood for food, but let it be drained out on the earth like water.
Deuteronomy 16
1Take note of the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God: for in the month of Abib the Lord your God took you out of Egypt by night.
2The Passover offering, from your flock or your herd, is to be given to the Lord your God in the place marked out by him as the resting-place of his name.
3Take no leavened bread with it; for seven days let your food be unleavened bread, that is, the bread of sorrow; for you came out of the land of Egypt quickly: so the memory of that day, when you came out of the land of Egypt, will be with you all your life.
4For seven days let no leaven be used through all your land; and nothing of the flesh which is put to death in the evening of the first day is to be kept through the night till morning.
5The Passover offering is not to be put to death in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you:
6But in the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place of his name, there you are to put the Passover to death in the evening, at sundown, at that time of the year when you came out of Egypt.
7It is to be cooked and taken as food in the place marked out by the Lord: and in the morning you are to go back to your tents.
8For six days let your food be unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there is to be a holy meeting to the Lord your God; no work is to be done.
9Let seven weeks be numbered from the first day when the grain is cut.
10Then keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, with an offering freely given to him from the wealth he has given you:
11Then you are to be glad before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is with you, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you, in the place marked out by the Lord your God as a resting-place for his name.
12And you will keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: and you will take care to keep all these laws.
13You are to keep the feast of tents for seven days after you have got in all your grain and made your wine:
14You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you.
15Keep the feast to the Lord your God for seven days, in the place marked out by the Lord: because the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all the produce of your land and all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy.
16Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord your God in the place named by him; at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents: and they are not to come before the Lord with nothing in their hands;
17Every man is to give as he is able, in the measure of the blessing which the Lord your God has given you.
18You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness.
19You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.
20Let righteousness be your guide, so that you may have life, and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
21Let no holy tree of any sort be planted by the altar of the Lord your God which you will make.
22You are not to put up stone pillars, for they are hated by the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 17
1No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God.
2If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,
3By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders;
4If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel;
5Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.
6On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness.
7The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.
8If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;
9And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:
10And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:
11Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.
12And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.
13And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.
14When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you;
15Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.
16And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.
17And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.
18And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care:
19And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws:
20So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.