Deuteronomy 13-16

1If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

2and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,”

3you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

4You are to follow the LORD your God and fear Him. Keep His commandments and listen to His voice; serve Him and hold fast to Him.

5Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

6If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,

7the gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, whether from one end of the earth or the other),

8you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him.

9Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

10Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

11Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

12If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said

13that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

14then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,

15you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.

16And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.

17Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,

18because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments I am giving you today and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

1You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,

2for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

3You must not eat any detestable thing.

4These are the animals that you may eat: The ox, the sheep, the goat,

5the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

6You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud.

7But of those that chew the cud or have a completely divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: the camel, the rabbit, or the rock badger. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof. They are unclean for you,

8as well as the pig; though it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. It is unclean for you. You must not eat its meat or touch its carcass.

9Of all the creatures that live in the water, you may eat anything with fins and scales,

10but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales; it is unclean for you.

11You may eat any clean bird,

12but these you may not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

13the red kite, the falcon, any kind of kite,

14any kind of raven,

15the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,

16the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

17the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant,

18the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, or the bat.

19All flying insects are unclean for you; they may not be eaten.

20But you may eat any clean bird.

21You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

22You must be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year from your fields.

23And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

24But if the distance is too great for you to carry that with which the LORD your God has blessed you, because the place where the LORD your God will choose to put His Name is too far away,

25then exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.

26Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household.

27And do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

28At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and lay it up within your gates.

29Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.

1At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

2This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.

3You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

4There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,

5if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today.

6When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.

7If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.

8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.

9Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

10Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

11For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

12If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.

13And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.

14You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

15Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

16But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,

17then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

18Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

19You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.

20Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.

21But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

22Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.

23But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

1Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

2You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

3You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

4No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.

5You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.

6You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.

7And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.

8For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.

9You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.

10And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you,

11and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.

12Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.

13You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.

14And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.

15For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.

16Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.

17Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.

18You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

19Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

20Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,

22and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.