20"When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you!H3318H4421H341H7200H5483H7393H5971H7227H3372H3068H430H5927H776H4714 2When you prepare for battle, the priest must come forward to speak to the troops.H7126H4421H3548H5066H1696H5971 3He will say to them, 'Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight your enemies today! Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before them.H559H8085H3478H7131H3117H4421H341H3824H7401H3372H2648H6206H6440 4For the LORD your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!'H3068H430H1980H3898H341H3467 5"Then the officers of the army must address the troops and say, 'Has anyone here just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, you may go home! You might be killed in the battle, and someone else would dedicate your house.H7860H1696H5971H559H376H1129H2319H1004H2596H3212H7725H1004H4191H4421H312H376H2596 6Has anyone here just planted a vineyard but not yet eaten any of its fruit? If so, you may go home! You might die in battle, and someone else would eat the first fruit.H376H5193H3754H2490H3212H7725H1004H4191H4421H312H376H2490 7Has anyone here just become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? Well, you may go home and get married! You might die in the battle, and someone else would marry her.'H376H781H802H3947H3212H7725H1004H4191H4421H312H376H3947 8"Then the officers will also say, 'Is anyone here afraid or worried? If you are, you may go home before you frighten anyone else.'H7860H1696H3254H5971H559H376H3373H7390H3824H3212H7725H1004H251H3824H4549H3824 9When the officers have finished speaking to their troops, they will appoint the unit commanders.H7860H3615H1696H5971H6485H8269H6635H7218H5971 10"As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace.H7126H5892H3898H7121H7965 11If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.H6030H7965H6605H5971H4672H4522H5647 12But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.H7999H6213H4421H6696 13When the LORD your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town.H3068H430H5414H3027H5221H2138H6310H2719 14But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.H802H2945H929H5892H7998H962H398H7998H341H3068H430H5414 15"But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter.H6213H5892H3966H7350H2007H5892H1471 16In those towns that the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing.H5892H5971H3068H430H5414H5159H2421H5397 17You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you.H2763H2763H2850H567H3669H6522H2340H2983H3068H430H6680 18This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the LORD your God.H3925H6213H8441H6213H430H2398H3068H430 19"When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?H6696H5892H7227H3117H3898H8610H7843H6086H5080H1631H398H3772H6086H7704H120H935H6440H4692 20You may only cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to attack the enemy town until it falls.H6086H3045H6086H3978H7843H3772H1129H4692H5892H6213H4421H3381
21"When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don't know who committed the murder.H4672H2491H127H3068H430H5414H3423H5307H7704H3045H52212In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns.H2205H8199H3318H4058H5892H5439H24913When the nearest town has been determined, that town's elders must select from the herd a young cow that has never been trained or yoked to a plow.H5892H7138H2491H2205H5892H3947H1241H5697H5647H4900H59234They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the young cow's neck.H2205H5892H3381H5697H386H5158H5647H2232H6202H5697H6202H51585Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD's name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.H3548H1121H3878H5066H3068H430H977H8334H1288H8034H3068H6310H7379H50616"The elders of the town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken.H2205H5892H7138H2491H7364H3027H5697H6202H51587Then they must say, 'Our hands did not shed this person's blood, nor did we see it happen.H6030H559H3027H8210H1818H5869H72008O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.' Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person's blood.H3722H3068H5971H3478H6299H5414H5355H1818H5971H3478H7130H1818H37229By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the LORD's sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community.H1197H5355H1818H7130H6213H3477H5869H306810"Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives.H3318H4421H341H3068H430H5414H3027H7617H762811And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her.H7200H7633H8389H3303H802H2836H3947H80212If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails,H935H8432H1004H1548H7218H6213H685613and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife.H5493H8071H7628H3427H1004H1058H1H517H3117H3391H310H935H1166H80214But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.H2654H7971H5315H4376H4376H3701H6014H834H603115"Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love.H376H8147H802H259H157H259H8130H3205H1121H157H8130H1060H1121H814616When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son.H3117H1121H5157H3201H1121H157H1069H6440H1121H8130H106017He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father's virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.H5234H1121H8130H1060H5414H8147H6310H4672H7225H202H4941H106218"Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him.H376H5637H4784H1121H8085H6963H1H6963H517H3256H808519In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate.H1H517H8610H3318H2205H5892H8179H472520The parents must say to the elders, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.'H559H2205H5892H1121H5637H4784H8085H6963H2151H543321Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.H582H5892H7275H68H4191H1197H7451H1197H7130H3478H8085H337222"If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,H376H2399H4941H4194H4191H8518H608623the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession.H5038H3885H6086H6912H6912H3117H8518H7045H430H127H2930H3068H430H5414H5159
22"If you see your neighbor's ox or sheep or goat wandering away, don't ignore your responsibility. Take it back to its owner.H7200H251H7794H7716H5080H5956H7725H7725H251 2If its owner does not live nearby or you don't know who the owner is, take it to your place and keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then you must return it.H251H7138H3045H622H8432H1004H251H1875H7725 3Do the same if you find your neighbor's donkey, clothing, or anything else your neighbor loses. Don't ignore your responsibility.H3651H6213H2543H6213H8071H9H251H6H4672H6213H3201H5956 4"If you see that your neighbor's donkey or ox has collapsed on the road, do not look the other way. Go and help your neighbor get it back on its feet!H7200H251H2543H7794H5307H1870H5956H6965H6965 5"A woman must not put on men's clothing, and a man must not wear women's clothing. Anyone who does this is detestable in the sight of the LORD your God.H802H3627H1397H1397H3847H802H8071H6213H428H8441H3068H430 6"If you happen to find a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground, and there are young ones or eggs in it with the mother sitting in the nest, do not take the mother with the young.H6833H7064H7122H6440H1870H6086H776H667H1000H517H7257H667H1000H3947H517H1121 7You may take the young, but let the mother go, so that you may prosper and enjoy a long life.H7971H517H7971H3947H1121H3190H748H3117 8"When you build a new house, you must build a railing around the edge of its flat roof. That way you will not be considered guilty of murder if someone falls from the roof.H1129H2319H1004H6213H4624H1406H7760H1818H1004H5307H5307 9"You must not plant any other crop between the rows of your vineyard. If you do, you are forbidden to use either the grapes from the vineyard or the other crop.H2232H3754H3610H4395H2233H2232H8393H3754H6942 10"You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.H2790H7794H2543H3162 11"You must not wear clothing made of wool and linen woven together.H3847H8162H6785H6593H3162 12"You must put four tassels on the hem of the cloak with which you cover yourself—on the front, back, and sides.H6213H1434H702H3671H3682H3680 13"Suppose a man marries a woman, but after sleeping with her, he turns against herH376H3947H802H935H8130 14and publicly accuses her of shameful conduct, saying, 'When I married this woman, I discovered she was not a virgin.'H7760H5949H1697H3318H7451H8034H559H3947H802H7126H4672H1331 15Then the woman's father and mother must bring the proof of her virginity to the elders as they hold court at the town gate.H1H5291H517H3947H3318H5291H1331H2205H5892H8179 16Her father must say to them, 'I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and now he has turned against her.H5291H1H559H2205H5414H1323H376H802H8130 17He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, "I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin." But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity.' Then they must spread her bed sheet before the elders.H7760H5949H1697H559H4672H1323H1331H1323H1331H6566H8071H6440H2205H5892 18The elders must then take the man and punish him.H2205H5892H3947H376H3256 19They must also fine him 100 pieces of silver, which he must pay to the woman's father because he publicly accused a virgin of Israel of shameful conduct. The woman will then remain the man's wife, and he may never divorce her.H6064H3967H3701H5414H1H5291H3318H7451H8034H1330H3478H802H3201H7971H3117 20"But suppose the man's accusations are true, and he can show that she was not a virgin.H1697H571H1331H4672H5291 21The woman must be taken to the door of her father's home, and there the men of the town must stone her to death, for she has committed a disgraceful crime in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her parents' home. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.H3318H5291H6607H1H1004H582H5892H5619H68H4191H6213H5039H3478H2181H1H1004H1197H7451H1197H7130 22"If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman must die. In this way, you will purge Israel of such evil.H376H4672H7901H802H1166H1167H8147H4191H376H7901H802H802H1197H7451H3478 23"Suppose a man meets a young woman, a virgin who is engaged to be married, and he has sexual intercourse with her. If this happens within a town,H5291H1330H781H376H376H4672H5892H7901 24you must take both of them to the gates of that town and stone them to death. The woman is guilty because she did not scream for help. The man must die because he violated another man's wife. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.H3318H8147H8179H5892H5619H68H4191H5291H834H1697H6817H5892H376H834H1697H6031H7453H802H1197H7451H7130 25"But if the man meets the engaged woman out in the country, and he rapes her, then only the man must die.H376H4672H781H5291H7704H376H2388H7901H376H7901H4191 26Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no crime worthy of death. She is as innocent as a murder victim.H5291H6213H1697H5291H2399H4194H376H6965H7453H7523H5315H1697 27Since the man raped her out in the country, it must be assumed that she screamed, but there was no one to rescue her.H4672H7704H781H5291H6817H3467 28"Suppose a man has intercourse with a young woman who is a virgin but is not engaged to be married. If they are discovered,H376H4672H5291H1330H781H8610H7901H4672 29he must pay her father fifty pieces of silver. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.H376H7901H5414H5291H1H2572H3701H802H6031H3201H7971H3117 30"A man must not marry his father's former wife, for this would violate his father.H376H3947H1H802H1540H1H3671
Dublin, OH
the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you.H2763
