rsv Deuteronomy:21-26 SEEK
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If in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess ,
any one is found slain ,
lying in the open country ,
and it is not known who killed him ,
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then your elders and your judges shall come forth ,
and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain ;
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and the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer which has never been worked and which has not pulled in the yoke .
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And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water ,
which is neither plowed nor sown ,
and shall break the heifer '
s neck there in the valley .
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And the priests the sons of Levi shall come forward ,
for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD ,
and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled .
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And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley ;
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and they shall testify , `
Our hands did not shed this blood ,
neither did our eyes see it shed .
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Forgive ,
O LORD ,
thy people Israel ,
whom thou hast redeemed ,
and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel ;
but let the guilt of blood be forgiven them .'
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So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst ,
when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD .
* "
When you go forth to war against your enemies ,
and the LORD your God gives them into your hands ,
and you take them captive ,
*
and see among the captives a beautiful woman ,
and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife ,
*
then you shall bring her home to your house ,
and she shall shave her head and pare her nails .
*
And she shall put off her captive '
s garb ,
and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month ;
after that you may go in to her ,
and be her husband ,
and she shall be your wife .
*
Then ,
if you have no delight in her ,
you shall let her go where she will ;
but you shall not sell her for money ,
you shall not treat her as a slave ,
since you have humiliated her .
* "
If a man has two wives ,
the one loved and the other disliked ,
and they have borne him children ,
both the loved and the disliked ,
and if the first-born son is hers that is disliked ,
*
then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons ,
he may not treat the son of the loved as the first-born in preference to the son of the disliked ,
who is the first-born ,
*
but he shall acknowledge the first-born ,
the son of the disliked ,
by giving him a double portion of all that he has ,
for he is the first issue of his strength ;
the right of the first-born is his .
* "
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son ,
who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother ,
and ,
though they chastise him ,
will not give heed to them ,
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then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives ,
*
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 .'
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Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones ;
so you shall purge the evil from your midst ;
and all Israel shall hear ,
and fear .
* "
And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death ,
and you hang him on a tree ,
*
his body shall not remain all night upon the tree ,
but you shall bury him the same day ,
for a hanged man is accursed by God ;
you shall not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance .
* "
You shall not see your brother '
s ox or his sheep go astray ,
and withhold your help from them ;
you shall take them back to your brother .
*
And if he is not near you ,
or if you do not know him ,
you shall bring it home to your house ,
and it shall be with you until your brother seeks it ;
then you shall restore it to him .
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And so you shall do with his ass ;
so you shall do with his garment ;
so you shall do with any lost thing of your brother '
s ,
which he loses and you find ;
you may not withhold your help .
*
You shall not see your brother '
s ass or his ox fallen down by the way ,
and withhold your help from them ;
you shall help him to lift them up again .
* "
A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man ,
nor shall a man put on a woman '
s garment ;
for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God .
* "
If you chance to come upon a bird '
s nest ,
in any tree or on the ground ,
with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs ,
you shall not take the mother with the young ;
*
you shall let the mother go ,
but the young you may take to yourself ;
that it may go well with you ,
and that you may live long .
* "
When you build a new house ,
you shall make a parapet for your roof ,
that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house ,
if any one fall from it .
* "
You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed ,
lest the whole yield be forfeited to the sanctuary ,
the crop which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard .
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You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together .
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You shall not wear a mingled stuff ,
wool and linen together .
* "
You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself .
* "
If any man takes a wife ,
and goes in to her ,
and then spurns her ,
*
and charges her with shameful conduct ,
and brings an evil name upon her ,
saying , `
I took this woman ,
and when I came near her ,
I did not find in her the tokens of virginity ,'
*
then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate ;
*
and the father of the young woman shall say to the elders , `
I gave my daughter to this man to wife ,
and he spurns her ;
*
and lo ,
he has made shameful charges against her ,
saying , "
I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity ."
And yet these are the tokens of my daughter '
s virginity .'
And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city .
*
Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him ;
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and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver ,
and give them to the father of the young woman ,
because he has brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel ;
and she shall be his wife ;
he may not put her away all his days .
*
But if the thing is true ,
that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman ,
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then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father '
s house ,
and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones ,
because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father '
s house ;
so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you .
* "
If a man is found lying with the wife of another man ,
both of them shall die ,
the man who lay with the woman ,
and the woman ;
so you shall purge the evil from Israel .
* "
If there is a betrothed virgin ,
and a man meets her in the city and lies with her ,
*
then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city ,
and you shall stone them to death with stones ,
the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city ,
and the man because he violated his neighbor '
s wife ;
so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you .
* "
But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed ,
and the man seizes her and lies with her ,
then only the man who lay with her shall die .
*
But to the young woman you shall do nothing ;
in the young woman there is no offense punishable by death ,
for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor ;
*
because he came upon her in the open country ,
and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her .
* "
If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed ,
and seizes her and lies with her ,
and they are found ,
*
then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver ,
and she shall be his wife ,
because he has violated her ;
he may not put her away all his days .
* "
A man shall not take his father '
s wife ,
nor shall he uncover her who is his father '
s .
* "
He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the LORD .
* "
No bastard shall enter the assembly of the LORD ;
even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD .
* "
No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD ;
even to the tenth generation none belonging to them shall enter the assembly of the LORD for ever ;
*
because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way ,
when you came forth out of Egypt ,
and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Be '
or from Pethor of Mesopota '
mia ,
to curse you .
*
Nevertheless the LORD your God would not hearken to Balaam ;
but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you ,
because the LORD your God loved you .
*
You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days for ever .
* "
You shall not abhor an E '
domite ,
for he is your brother ;
you shall not abhor an Egyptian ,
because you were a sojourner in his land .
*
The children of the third generation that are born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD .
* "
When you go forth against your enemies and are in camp ,
then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing .
* "
If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of what chances to him by night ,
then he shall go outside the camp ,
he shall not come within the camp ;
*
but when evening comes on ,
he shall bathe himself in water ,
and when the sun is down ,
he may come within the camp .
* "
You shall have a place outside the camp and you shall go out to it ;
*
and you shall have a stick with your weapons ;
and when you sit down outside ,
you shall dig a hole with it ,
and turn back and cover up your excrement .
*
Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp ,
to save you and to give up your enemies before you ,
therefore your camp must be holy ,
that he may not see anything indecent among you ,
and turn away from you .
* "
You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you ;
*
he shall dwell with you ,
in your midst ,
in the place which he shall choose within one of your towns ,
where it pleases him best ;
you shall not oppress him .
* "
There shall be no cult prostitute of the daughters of Israel ,
neither shall there be a cult prostitute of the sons of Israel .
*
You shall not bring the hire of a harlot ,
or the wages of a dog ,
into the house of the LORD your God in payment for any vow ;
for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God .
* "
You shall not lend upon interest to your brother ,
interest on money ,
interest on victuals ,
interest on anything that is lent for interest .
*
To a foreigner you may lend upon interest ,
but to your brother you shall not lend upon interest ;
that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are entering to take possession of it .
* "
When you make a vow to the LORD your God ,
you shall not be slack to pay it ;
for the LORD your God will surely require it of you ,
and it would be sin in you .
*
But if you refrain from vowing ,
it shall be no sin in you .
*
You shall be careful to perform what has passed your lips ,
for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth .
* "
When you go into your neighbor '
s vineyard ,
you may eat your fill of grapes ,
as many as you wish ,
but you shall not put any in your vessel .
*
When you go into your neighbor '
s standing grain ,
you may pluck the ears with your hand ,
but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor '
s standing grain .
* "
When a man takes a wife and marries her ,
if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her ,
and he writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house ,
and she departs out of his house ,
*
and if she goes and becomes another man '
s wife ,
*
and the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house ,
or if the latter husband dies ,
who took her to be his wife ,
*
then her former husband ,
who sent her away ,
may not take her again to be his wife ,
after she has been defiled ;
for that is an abomination before the LORD ,
and you shall not bring guilt upon the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance .
* "
When a man is newly married ,
he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any business ;
he shall be free at home one year ,
to be happy with his wife whom he has taken .
* "
No man shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge ;
for he would be taking a life in pledge .
* "
If a man is found stealing one of his brethren ,
the people of Israel ,
and if he treats him as a slave or sells him ,
then that thief shall die ;
so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you .
* "
Take heed ,
in an attack of leprosy ,
to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you ;
as I commanded them ,
so you shall be careful to do .
*
Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way as you came forth out of Egypt .
* "
When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort ,
you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge .
*
You shall stand outside ,
and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you .
*
And if he is a poor man ,
you shall not sleep in his pledge ;
*
when the sun goes down ,
you shall restore to him the pledge that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you ;
and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God .
* "
You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy ,
whether he is one of your brethren or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns ;
*
you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it ,
before the sun goes down (
for he is poor ,
and sets his heart upon it );
lest he cry against you to the LORD ,
and it be sin in you .
* "
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children ,
nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers ;
every man shall be put to death for his own sin .
* "
You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless ,
or take a widow '
s garment in pledge ;
*
but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there ;
therefore I command you to do this .
* "
When you reap your harvest in your field ,
and have forgotten a sheaf in the field ,
you shall not go back to get it ;
it shall be for the sojourner ,
the fatherless ,
and the widow ;
that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands .
*
When you beat your olive trees ,
you shall not go over the boughs again ;
it shall be for the sojourner ,
the fatherless ,
and the widow .
*
When you gather the grapes of your vineyard ,
you shall not glean it afterward ;
it shall be for the sojourner ,
the fatherless ,
and the widow .
*
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt ;
therefore I command you to do this .
* "
If there is a dispute between men ,
and they come into court ,
and the judges decide between them ,
acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty ,
*
then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten ,
the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense .
*
Forty stripes may be given him ,
but not more ;
lest ,
if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these ,
your brother be degraded in your sight .
* "
You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain .
* "
If brothers dwell together ,
and one of them dies and has no son ,
the wife of the dead shall not be married outside the family to a stranger ;
her husband '
s brother shall go in to her ,
and take her as his wife ,
and perform the duty of a husband '
s brother to her .
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And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead ,
that his name may not be blotted out of Israel .
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And if the man does not wish to take his brother '
s wife ,
then his brother '
s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders ,
and say , `
My husband '
s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother '
s name in Israel ;
he will not perform the duty of a husband '
s brother to me .'
*
Then the elders of his city shall call him ,
and speak to him :
and if he persists ,
saying , `
I do not wish to take her ,'
*
then his brother '
s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders ,
and pull his sandal off his foot ,
and spit in his face ;
and she shall answer and say , `
So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother '
s house .'
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And the name of his house shall be called in Israel ,
The house of him that had his sandal pulled off .
* "
When men fight with one another ,
and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him ,
and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts ,
*
then you shall cut off her hand ;
your eye shall have no pity .
* "
You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights ,
a large and a small .
*
You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures ,
a large and a small .
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A full and just weight you shall have ,
a full and just measure you shall have ;
that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you .
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For all who do such things ,
all who act dishonestly ,
are an abomination to the LORD your God .
* "
Remember what Am '
alek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt ,
*
how he attacked you on the way ,
when you were faint and weary ,
and cut off at your rear all who lagged behind you ;
and he did not fear God .
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Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about ,
in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess ,
you shall blot out the remembrance of Am '
alek from under heaven ;
you shall not forget .
* "
When you come into the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance ,
and have taken possession of it ,
and live in it ,
*
you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground ,
which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God gives you ,
and you shall put it in a basket ,
and you shall go to the place which the LORD your God will choose ,
to make his name to dwell there .
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And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time ,
and say to him , `
I declare this day to the LORD your God that I have come into the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us .'
*
Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand ,
and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God .
* "
And you shall make response before the LORD your God , `
A wandering Aramean was my father ;
and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there ,
few in number ;
and there he became a nation ,
great ,
mighty ,
and populous .
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And the Egyptians treated us harshly ,
and afflicted us ,
and laid upon us hard bondage .
*
Then we cried to the LORD the God of our fathers ,
and the LORD heard our voice ,
and saw our affliction ,
our toil ,
and our oppression ;
*
and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm ,
with great terror ,
with signs and wonders ;
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and he brought us into this place and gave us this land ,
a land flowing with milk and honey .
*
And behold ,
now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground ,
which thou ,
O LORD ,
hast given me .'
And you shall set it down before the LORD your God ,
and worship before the LORD your God ;
*
and you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given to you and to your house ,
you ,
and the Levite ,
and the sojourner who is among you .
* "
When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year ,
which is the year of tithing ,
giving it to the Levite ,
the sojourner ,
the fatherless ,
and the widow ,
that they may eat within your towns and be filled ,
*
then you shall say before the LORD your God , `
I have removed the sacred portion out of my house ,
and moreover I have given it to the Levite ,
the sojourner ,
the fatherless ,
and the widow ,
according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me ;
I have not transgressed any of thy commandments ,
neither have I forgotten them ;
*
I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning ,
or removed any of it while I was unclean ,
or offered any of it to the dead ;
I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God ,
I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me .
*
Look down from thy holy habitation ,
from heaven ,
and bless thy people Israel and the ground which thou hast given us ,
as thou didst swear to our fathers ,
a land flowing with milk and honey .'
* "
This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances ;
you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul .
*
You have declared this day concerning the LORD that he is your God ,
and that you will walk in his ways ,
and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances ,
and will obey his voice ;
*
and the LORD has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession ,
as he has promised you ,
and that you are to keep all his commandments ,
*
that he will set you high above all nations that he has made ,
in praise and in fame and in honor ,
and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God ,
as he has spoken ."
*
Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people ,
saying , "
Keep all the commandment which I command you this day .