Chapter 12
1; These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall take heed to do in the land which YAHWEH the Elohim of your fathers has given to you, to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth:
2; You shall completely destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
3; And you shall break down their altars, and shatter their standing pillars. And you shall burn their Asherahs with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their gods, and shall destroy their names out of that place.
4; You shall not do so to YAHWEH your Elohim.
5; But you shall seek to the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose out of all your tribes; for you shall seek His dwelling, to put His name there. And you shall go there.
6; And you shall bring your burnt offerings there, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offering, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock.
7; And you shall eat there before YAHWEH your Elohim, and shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, with which YAHWEH your Elohim has blessed you.
8; You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, each doing all that is right in his own eyes.
9; For you have not come to the rest and to the inheritance which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving to you.
10; And you shall cross over the Jordan, and shall live in the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is causing you to inherit. And He shall give you rest from all your enemies all around; and you shall live securely.
11; And it shall be the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I am instructing you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice freewill offerings which you vow to YAHWEH.
12; And you shall rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim, you and your sons, and your daughters, and your male slaves, and your female slaves, and the Levite within your gates because he has no portion or inheritance with you.
13; Take heed to yourself that you not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;
14; but in the place which YAHWEH shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I instruct.
15; Only with all the desire of your soul you shall sacrifice and shall eat meat within all your gates according to
the blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim which He has given you; the unclean one and the clean one may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the hart.
16; Only, you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it as water on the earth.
17; You are not able to eat the tithe of your grain within your gates, and of your new wine, and your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock, and any of your vows which you vow, and your freewill offering, and the heave offering of your hand.
18; But you shall eat it before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose, you and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim in all that you put your hand to.
19; Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live on the land.
20; Then YAHWEH your Elohim shall enlarge your border, as He has promised you, and you shall say, I will eat flesh, because your soul desires to eat flesh, you may eat flesh according to all the desire of your soul.
21; If the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose to put His name there is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock which YAHWEH has given you, as I have instructed you; and you shall eat within your gates according to all the desire of your soul.
22; Only, as the gazelle and the hart are eaten, so you shall eat of it; the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike.
23; Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh;
24; You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth as water.
25; You shall not eat it in order that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, when you do that which is right in the eyes of YAHWEH.
26; Only, your set-apart things which you have, and your vows, you shall take up and shall go to the place which YAHWEH shall choose.
27; And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of YAHWEH your Elohim; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out by the altar of YAHWEH your Elohim; and you shall eat the flesh.
28; Take heed to listen to all these Words which I am instructing you, in order that it may be well with you and with your sons after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of YAHWEH your Elohim.
29; When YAHWEH your Elohim shall cut off the nations from before you, where you are going in to possess them, and you shall possess them, and shall live in their land,
30; take heed to yourself that you not be snared to follow them after they have been destroyed before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their Elohim? And I shall do so, even I.
31; You shall not do so to YAHWEH your Elohim; for everything hateful to YAHWEH, which He detests, they have done to their gods. For they have even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
32; All the things that I instruct you, take heed to do them and you shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
Chapter 13
1; If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams rises among you, and gives you a sign or a wonder,
2; and the sign or the wonder which he spoke to you occurs, saying, Let us go after other Elohim which you have not known, and let us serve them,
3; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. For YAHWEH your Elohim is testing you, to know if you love YAHWEH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.
4; You shall walk after YAHWEH your Elohim, and you shall rever Him. And you shall keep His mitzvot, and you shall hear His voice, and you shall serve Him, and you shall cleave to Him.
5; And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall die, because he has spoken apostasy against YAHWEH your Elohim, who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt, and has redeemed you out of the house of slaves, to drive you out of the way in which YAHWEH your Elohim has instructed you to walk. And you shall put away evil from among your midst.
6; If your brother, your mother's son, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, shall entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other elohim, which you have not known, you and your fathers,
7; of the Elohim of the people around you, those near you or far off from you, from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth,
8; you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him, nor shall your eye have pity on him, nor shall you spare nor hide him.
9; But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to cause him to die, and the hand of all the people last.
10; And you shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, for he has sought to drive you out from YAHWEH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.
11; And all Israel shall hear and rever, and shall not again do any such wicked thing as this among you.
12; If, in one of your cities which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you to live in, you hear one saying,
13; Certain men, sons of Belial, have gone out from among you and have drawn away those who live in their city, saying, Let us go and serve other elohim, which you have not known;
14; then you shall inquire and make search, and ask carefully; and, behold, if the thing is truly established, that this abominable thing has been done among you,
15; Surely, you shall strike those who live in that city by the mouth of the sword, destroying it completely, and all that is in it, and its livestock, with the mouth of the sword.
16; And you shall gather all its spoil into the middle of its open place, and shall burn the city with fire, and all its spoil, completely, before YAHWEH your Elohim. And it shall be a heap perpetually; it shall not be built any more.
17; And not any of the cursed thing shall cleave to your hand, so that YAHWEH shall turn from the fierceness of His anger, and shall give mercies to you, and shall love you, and shall multiply you, as He has sworn to your fathers,
18; when you listen to the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, to keep all His mitzvot which I am instructing you today, to do that which is right in the eyes of YAHWEH your Elohim.
Chapter 14
1; You are sons to YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
2; For you are a set-apart people to YAHWEH your Elohim; and YAHWEH has chosen you to be a people to Him, a special treasure out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
3; You shall not eat any abominable thing.
4; These are the animals which you shall eat: the ox, the flocked sheep, and the flocked goat,
5; the hart and gazelle, and roe deer, and wild goat, and antelope, and Oryx, and moufflon.
6; And you may eat every animal that divides the hoof, and divides two hoofs wholly, and chews the cud among the animals.
7; But you shall not eat of those that only chew the cud, or those only dividing the cloven hoof: the camel, and the hare, and the rock badger; for they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof. They shall be unclean to you.
8; And the swine, because it divides the hoof, but does not chew the cud; it is unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead body.
9; These you shall eat of all in the waters: you shall eat all that have fins and scales.
10; And whatever does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat. It shall be unclean to you.
11; You shall eat of all clean birds.
12; But you shall not eat of these: the eagle, the black vulture, and the bearded vulture,
13; and the hawk, and falcons, and the kite by its kinds,
14; and all ravens by their kinds;
15; and the ostrich, and the great owl, and the sea gull, and small hawks by their kinds,
16; the little owl, and the eared owl, and the barn owl,
17; and the pelican, and the owl, and the cormorant,
18; and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.
19; And every teeming thing that flies shall be unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.
20; You may eat of all clean birds.
21; You shall not eat of anything that died of itself. You may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it. Or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a set-apart people to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
22; Tithing you shall tithe all the increase of your seed that the field yields year by year.
23; And you shall eat before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-lings of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to rever YAHWEH your Elohim all your days.
24; And if the way is too long for you, so that you cannot carry it, because the place is too far from you which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose to set His name there, when YAHWEH your Elohim shall bless you;
25; Then you shall give it for silver, and bind up the silver in your hand. And you shall go to the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose.
26; And you shall pay the silver for whatever your soul rightly desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for fermented drink, or for whatever your soul desires. And you shall eat there before YAHWEH your Elohim, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
27; And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
28; At the end of three years, even the same year, you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase, and shall lay it up within your gates.
29; And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied; so that YAHWEH your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Chapter 15
1; At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.
2; And this is the manner of the release: Everyone who has a loan to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because a release has been proclaimed for YAHWEH.
3; You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand shall release whatever is yours with your brother,
4; only that there shall be no one in need among you. For YAHWEH will greatly bless you in the land that YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you for an inheritance, to possess it,
5; only if carefully you will listen to the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, to take heed to do all this mitzvot, which I am instructing you today.
6; For YAHWEH your Elohim will bless you as He promised you. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7; If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers inside any of your gates in your land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your needy brother.
8; But you shall open your hand wide to him, and surely you shall lend him enough for his need in that which he lacks.
9; Beware that there is no evil thought in your heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release draws near; and your eye be evil against your needy brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to YAHWEH against you and it be sin to you.
10; Surely, you shall give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because YAHWEH your Elohim will bless you for this thing, in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to.
11; For the needy will never cease from the midst of the land. On account of this I instruct you, saying, Opening you shall open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.
12; If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
13; And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty.
14; You shall richly adorn him from your flock, and from your threshing floor, and from your winepress, with that which YAHWEH your Elohim has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15; And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YAHWEH your Elohim redeemed you. On account of this I instruct you this thing today.
16; And it shall be, if he says to you, I will not go out from you, because he loves you and your house, because it was good for him with you;
17; then you shall take an awl, and shall put it through his ear, and through the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And you shall do so to your slave-girl also.
18; It shall not seem hard in your eyes when you send him away free from you. For to the double of the hire of a hireling he has served you six years. And YAHWEH your Elohim will bless you in all that you do.
19; The firstling males that are born of your herd and of your flock, you shall sanctify to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall do no work with the firstling of your ox, nor shear the firstling of your flock.
20; You shall eat it before YAHWEH your Elohim year by year in the place which YAHWEH shall choose, you and your household.
21; And if there is any blemish in it, lameness, or blindness, or any evil blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to YAHWEH your Elohim.
22; You shall eat it inside your gates; the unclean one and the clean one alike, as the gazelle and as the hart.
23; Only, you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
Chapter 16
1; Observe the month Aviv, and perform the Passover to YAHWEH your Elohim. For in the month of Aviv, YAHWEH your Elohim brought you out of Egypt by night.
2; And you shall sacrifice a Passover to YAHWEH your Elohim of the flock, and of the herd, in the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.
3; You shall eat with it no leaven. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction. For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day that you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4; And there shall be no leaven seen with you in your borders seven days; nor shall any of the flesh which you sacrificed the first day at evening remain all night until the morning.
5; You may not sacrifice the Passover offering inside any of your gates, which YAHWEH your Elohim gives you.
6; But at the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, you shall sacrifice the Passover offering at evening, at the going of the sun, at the time when you came out of Egypt.
7; And you shall cook and eat in the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go into your tents.
8; You shall eat unleavened things six days, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall do no work.
9; You shall number to yourself seven weeks. When the sickle begins to reap in the standing grain, you shall begin to number seven weeks.
10; And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to YAHWEH your Elohim according to the measure of the freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give according as YAHWEH your Elohim blesses you.
11; And you shall rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim, you and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite that is inside your gates, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow that are among you, in the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.
12; And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall take heed to do these statutes.
13; You shall perform the Feast of Tabernacles seven days after you have gathered in from your grain-floor, and from your winepress.
14; And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow that are inside your gates.
15; You shall keep a solemn feast seven days to YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which YAHWEH shall choose; for YAHWEH your Elohim shall bless you in all your produce, and in every work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
16; Three times in a year shall all your males appear before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose: In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before YAHWEH empty,
17; but each with his gift of his hand, according to the blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim, which He has given you.
18; You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates which YAHWEH your Elohim gives you, tribe by tribe. And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
19; You shall not pervert judgment. You shall not regard faces, nor shall you take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.
20; You shall follow perfect justice, that you may live and possess the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you.
21; You shall not set up for yourself pillars of any trees, which you make for yourself near the altar of YAHWEH your Elohim.
22; And you shall not raise up for yourself any standing image, which YAHWEH your Elohim detests.