2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth aught to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release. 3 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release: 4 2 Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: 5 Only if thou shalt carefully hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. 6 For the LORD thy God shall bless 2 Before CHRIST, 1451. a Lev. 25. 2.4. and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing this day. 16 T And it shall be, if he shall say to thee, I will not leave thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee; 17. Then thou shalt take an awl, and Heb. mas-thrust it through his ear into the door, ter of the lending of and he shall be thy servant for ever. And his hand. also to thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise. or, to the end that there be no poor among you. bc. 28. 12. Matt. 5. 42. Luke 6. 34. 18 It shall not seem hard to thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been of double the worth of a hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. 19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. 20 Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thee, as he promised thee: and thou 3 Heb. word. thy God year by year in the place which shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign 4 Heb. over thee. 7 If there shall be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD the God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother: 8 But thou shalt open thy hand wide to him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Belial. Ex. 21. 2. Jer. 34. 14. Ex. 21. 6. Lev. 22. 20. c. 17. 1. 9 Beware that there be not a 3 thought| in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; Ex. 34. 19. and thy eye shall be evil against thy poor brother, and thou shalt give him naught; and he shall cry to the LORD against thee, and it shall be sin to thee. 10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest to him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all 23. thy works, and in all that thou puttest thy hand to. c. 12. 16. &c. the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household. 21 And if there is any blemish in it, as if it is lame, or blind, or hath any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it to the LORD thy God. 22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roe-buck, and as the hart. 23 Only thou shalt not eat its blood; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water. 11 For the poor shall never cease from a Ex. 12. 2, there. the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand wide to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. 12 And 4 if thy brother, a Hebrew Ex. 13. 4. man, or a Hebrew woman, shall be sold to thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. cc. 12. 5. 13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him de- Ex. 12. 15. part empty: 14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: of that with which the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give to him. • Ex. 34. 25. 15 And thou shalt remember that thou 1 or, kill. wast a bond-man in the land of Egypt,| 3d Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth from the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth from the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. 4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou didst sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. 5 Thou mayest not 1 sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, 11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the Ex. 23. 8. fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD 1 The thing sacrificed must be sound. 2 Idoluters must be slain. 8 Hard controversies are to be determined by the priests and judges. 12 The contemner of that determin ation must die. 14 The election, 16 and duty of a king. HOU shalt not sacrifice to the LORD which is blemish, or any evil favoredTHOU thy God any bullock, or 1 sheep, in ness: for that is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 2¶ If there shall be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4 And it shall be told thee, and thou thy God hath chosen to place his name 6 or, matters. hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, there. 12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. 13 ¶ Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy 4 corn, and thy wine. 14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, 7 Heb. Jus tice, justice. and behold, it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 5 Then shalt thou bring forth to thy gates that man or that woman, who have committed that wicked thing, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. 6 a At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy and the Levite, the stranger, and the fa- Lev. 26. 1. of death be put to death; but at the therless, and the widow, that are within thy gates: 15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast to the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: be-or, sit, or, pillar. cause the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase, and in all the works of thy hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. 16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; or, goat. in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: 17 Every man shall give 5 as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee. 18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. a Num. 35. 30. c. 19. 15. Matt. 18. 16. John 8. 17, Hebr.10.23. 2 Cor. 13. 1. 207 That which is altogether just 2 Heb. not to shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, hearken. and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt remove the evil from among you. 8¶ If there shall arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thon arise, and go up to the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; 9 And thou shalt come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judg ment: 10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: 11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 ¶ And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken to the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt remove the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. 14 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell in it, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor eause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said to you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Before CHRIST, 1451. a Num. 18. 20. c. 10. 9. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to 1 Cor. 9.13. himself, that his heart may turn not away: neither shall he greatly accumulate to himself silver and gold. 18 And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20 That his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. CHAP. XVIII. Heb. his sales by the fathers. Lev. 18. 21. 1 The Lord is the inheritance of the priests and Levites. 3 The priest's due. 8 The Levites' d Lev. 20. 27. portion. 9 The abominations of the nations are to be avoided. 15 Christ the prophet is to be heard. 20 The presumptuous prophet ise 1 Sam.28.7. to die. Tribe of Levi, shall have no part 2 or, up HE priests the Levites, and all the nor inheritance with Israel: they shall right, or, eat the offerings of the LORD made by sincere. fire, and his inheritance. 2 Therefore shall they have no inher 6 And if a Levite shall come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD shall choose; 7 Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD. 8 They shall have like portions to eat, beside 1 that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony. 9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necro mancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14 For these nations, which thou shalt 3 possess, hearkened to observers of times, and to diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. 15 The LORD thy God will raise up to thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like to me; to him ye shall hearken. 16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I may not die. 17 And the LORD said to me, They have well spoken of that which they have spoken. 18h I will raise up to them a prophet from among their brethren, like thee, he shall speak to them all that I shall and will put my words in his mouth; and command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, who shall presume itance among their brethren: the LORD 3 or, inherit. to speak a word in my name, which I is their inheritance, as he hath said to them. 3 And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether ox or sheep; and they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. John 1.45. Acts 3. 22. & 7. 37. have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou shalt say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken ? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the 4 The first-fruit also of thy corn, of Ex. 20. 19. name of the LORD, if the thing doth not thy wine, and of thy oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. John 1.45. 5 For the LORD thy God hath chosen Acts 3. 22. him out of all thy tribes, to stand to min- & 7. 37. ister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever. follow, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. CHAP. XIX. 2 The cities of refuge: 4 The privilege of them for the man slayer. 14 The land mark is not to be removed. 15 Two witnesses at the least. 16 The punishment of a false wil ness. HEN the LORD thy God a hath cut Before CHRIST, 1451. WHEN Lond,hy land the c. 12. 29. Ex. 21. 13. Num. 35.10. Josh. 20. 2. LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou 1 Heb.inher- thither. 4 T And this is the case of the slayer, who shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoever killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not 2 in time past; 5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand maketh a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the 3 head slippeth from the helve, and 5 falleth upon his neighbor, that he dieth: he shall flee to one of these cities, and live: 6 Lest the avenger of blood shall pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and 6 slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not 7 in time past. 7 Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. 8 And if the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy limits, as he hath sworn to thy 2 3 4 16 If a false witness shall rise up against any man to testify against him 9 that which is wrong; 17 Then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the LORD, before the priests, and the judges, who shall be in those days; 18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Heb. from yesterday the third day. Heb. iron. Heb. wood. 5 Heb. find eth. 21 And thy eye shall not pity; but Heb. smites life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth him in life for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Heb. from CHAP. XX. yesterday the third day. c. 12. 20. 19 Then shall ye do to him, as be had thought to do to his brother: so shalt thou remove the evil from among you. 20 And those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. d Josh. 20. 7. 8 Heb. in life. Num.35.30. c. 17. 6. Matt. 18. 16. 2 Cor. 13.1. Hebr.10. 28. John 8. 17. 10 1 The priest's exhortation to encourage the people to battle. 5 The officers' proclamation cho are to be dismissed from the war. How to use the cities that accept or refuse the proclamation of peace. 16 What cities must be devoted. 19 Trees for man's food must not be destroyed in the siege. W HEN thou goest out to battle against thy enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 2 And it shall be when ye are come nigh to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, 3 And shall say to them, Hear, O Is fathers, and give thee all the land which or, falling rael, ye approach this day to battle he promised to give to thy fathers; 9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; d then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three: 10 That innocent blood may not be shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. 11 But if any man shall hate his 2 neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and haste. rise up against him, and smite him & mortally, that he dieth, and he shall flee into one of these cities: 12 Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 3 Heb. made it common; See Lev. 19. 23. 13 Thy eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt remove the guilt of innocent c. 24. 5. blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee. against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not 2 tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; 4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. 5¶ And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle, and another man should dedicate it. 6 And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet 3 eaten of it? let him also go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle, and another man should eat of it. 14 Thou shalt not remove thy neigh- Judg. 7. 3. to the people, and they shall say, What bor's land-mark, which they of old time have set in thy inheritance, which thou man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart 4 should shalt inherit in the land that the LORD 4 Heb. melt. faint as well as his heart. thy God giveth thee to possess it. 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. 5 Heb. to be in the head 9 And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies 5 to lead the people. 10 When thou comest nigh to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD) and by their 1 word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried;" 6 And all the elders of that city that are next to the slain man, shall wash their 12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, Josh. 8. 2. hands over the heifer that is beheaded in then thou shalt besiege it: 13 And when the LORD thy God hath the valley: 7 And they shall answer and say, Our delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt 6 Heb. spoil. hands have not shed this blood, neither smite every male of it with the edge of the sword: 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil of it, shalt thou 6 take to thyself: and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very distant from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these people which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: have our eyes seen it. 8 Be merciful, O LORD, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and Olay not innocent blood 2 to the charge of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. man, the from before 9 Heb. it 18 That they may not teach you to do after all their abominations which they come down. have done to their gods; so would ye sin against the LORD your God. 19¶ When thou shalt besiege a city a long time in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees of it by forcing an ax against them; for thou mayest eat of them: and thou shalt not cut them down (7 for the tree of the field is man's life) 8 to employ them in the mouth. siege: 20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that 1 Heb. 9 So shalt thou remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD. 10 T When thou goest forth to war against thy enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them captive, 11 And thou seest among the captives her, that thou wouldest have her for thy a beautiful woman, and hast a desire to wife: 12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thy house, and she shall shave her head, and 34 pare her nails : 13 And she shall put off from her the raiment of her captivity, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that, thou shalt go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. 14 And it shall be, if thou shalt have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money; thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. 15 ¶ If a man shall have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have borne him children, both the belov maketh war with thee, until 9 it shall be 2 Heb. in the ed and the hated; and if the first-born subdued. CHAP. XXI. 1 The expiation of an uncertain murder. 10 The usage of a captive taken to wife. 15 The first-born is not to be disinherited upon private affection. 18 A stubborn son is to be stoned to death. 22 The malefactor must not | hang all night on a tree. midst. 3 or, suffer one shall be found slain in the land to grow. IF one shall found, slaid giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: 2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him that is slain: 3 And it shall be that the city which is next to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; 4 Heb. make, 4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and 5 Heb. that shall strike off the heifer's neck there in is found the valley; with him. 5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near (for them the LORD thy son be hers that was hated: 16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not prefer the son of the beloved first-born, before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born: 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all 5 that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his. 18 ¶ If a man shall have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he may die: |