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One God
Learn, then, that I, I alone, am God, and there is no God beside me.1a
I am the Lord, thy God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the air above, or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down yourselves before them nor worship them.1b Never mention the name of any other god; it shall not be heard from your lips.1c You shall make no covenant with them and their other gods. They must not abide in your land, lest they make you sin against me by ensnaring you into worshipping their gods.1d You shall not intermarry with them, neither giving your daughters for their sons nor taking their daughters for your sons.1e When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan, drive out all of the inhabitants before you; destroy all their stone figures and molten images and demolish all their high places.1f Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.1g
Let there not be found amongst you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire; nor a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a charmer, a diviner, or a caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts or spirits or seeks oracles from the dead.1h The Lord, your God, shall you fear and him only shall you serve. Hold fast to him and swear by his name.1i Fear not! Stand your ground and you will see the victory that the Lord shall win for you today.1j
1a Deut 32:39 1b Ex 20:2-5 1c Ex 23:13 1d Ex 23:32-33 1e Deut 7:3 1f Num 33:51-52 1g Deut 7:2 1h Deut 18:10-11 1i Deut 10:20 1j Ex 14:13
2nd Command
One Love
Walk in my presence and be blameless.2a You shall not do what we are now doing: here everyone doing what seems right to himself, since you have not reached your resting place, the heritage which the Lord, your God, shall give you.2b But keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and the ordinances and the statutes which he has enjoined on you. Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that you may according to His Word prosper and may enter in and possess the Good Land which He promised on oath to your forefathers.2c
Every command that I enjoin on you, you must be careful to observe, neither adding to them nor subtracting from them.2d Set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law very carefully.2e In the place where God choses, you shall read aloud this law in the presence of all Israel.2f The scroll of the law shall be placed beside the Ark of the Covenant (with your God) that there it may be a witness against you.2g Put tassels on the corners of your garments, fastening each tassel with a violet cord. Let the sight of them remind you to keep all the commandments of the Lord without going wantonly astray after the desires of your hearts and eyes.2h
You must never put the Lord, your God, to the test.2i Do not rebel against the Lord.2j And do not conform to pagan customs.2k Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your hearts, and be no longer stiff-necked.2l It is the eighth day and you must be given to the Lord.2m Take all these words of mine into your hearts and souls; bind them at your wrists as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking of them at home or abroad, whether you are busy or at rest, and write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, you and your children may live on the land which the Lord swore to your forefathers He would give them.2n
And now, Israel what does the Lord, your God, ask of you but to fear the Lord and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, to keep the commandments and the statutes which I enjoin on you today for your own good!2o
2a Gen 17:1 2b Deut 12:8-9 2c Deut 6:17-18 2d Deut 13:1 (12:32 KJV) 2e Deut 27:2,3,8 2f Deut 31:11 2g Deut 31:26 2h Num 15:38-39 2i Deut 6:16 2j Num 14:9 2k Lev 18:3 2l Deut 10:16 2m Lev 12:3 2n Deut 11:18-21 2o Deut 10:12-13
3rd Command
One Dwelling
The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation.3a They shall make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell in their midst.3b
Reverence my sanctuary.3c You are children of the Lord, your God. You shall not lacerate yourselves or shave your hair at temples, nor otherwise mark your bodies for the dead.3d For you are a people sacred to the Lord, your God, who has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly His own.3e There shall be no temple harlot among the Israelite women, nor a temple prostitute among the Israelite men.3f Any layman who comes near the sanctuary shall be put to death.3g
Give the Levites charge of the Dwelling Place of the commandments with all of its equipment and furnishings, but they shall not touch the sacred objects.3h Their required service in the meeting tent is from their twenty-fifth year until fifty years of age.3i Only Aaron and his descendants are appointed to perform the priestly functions.3j To their God they shall be sacred and not profane His name. Since they offer up the oblations of the Lord, the food of their God, they must be holy.3k The priest shall marry a virgin. No descendant of whatever generation who has any defect shall come forward to offer up the food of his God.3l Tell the priests to respect the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to me.3m You must be able to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, between what is clean and what is unclean, else when you go beyond the entry of the meeting tent, you will die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And you must teach the Israelites all the laws that the Lord has given them through Moses.3n Let the high priest also bring forth fragrant incense to put on the fire, so that smoke covers the propitiatory, else when I reveal myself there in a cloud, he will die.3o
3a Ex 15:2; 36:2-5; 35:10-20 3b Ex 25:8 3c Lev 26:2; 19:30 3d Lev 19:27-28; Deut 14:1 3e Deut 14:1-2 3f Deut 23:18 (23:17 KJV) 3g Num 3:38; 3:10 3h Num 1:50; 4:15 3i Num 8:23-25 3j Num 3:10 3k Lev 21:6 3l Lev 21:13,17 3m Lev 22:2 3n Lev 10:6-7, 10-11 3o Lev 16:13
4th Command
One Harvest
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, a day for sacred assembly, and you must rest even during the seasons of plowing and harvesting. No work may be done either by you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your beast, or by the alien who lives with you. You shall not even light a fire in your dwellings. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in it; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.4a
For six years you may sow your land and gather in its produce. But in the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and unharvested, that the poor among you may eat of it and the beasts of the field may eat what the poor leave behind.4b
Seven weeks of years shall you count, 49 years, then let the trumpet resound on the Day of Atonement: the fiftieth year proclaims a national liberty to all the inhabitants. In this year of Jubilee, while the fields enjoy their Sabbath, everyone shall return to his own property; for the land is Mine, says the Lord, it shall not be sold in perpetuity, and it is really the number of crops that one sells to another. Deal not unfairly: allow the original owner or his closest relative to redeem his property; nevertheless, come the Jubilee year, the land must be released. Houses, too, may be redeemed, except those within walled towns which carry a one-year grace period before irrevocable settlement. The Levites, however, have always the right to redeem their property, but their pasture lands may not be sold at all. An impoverished countryman who sells you his services is really a hired servant working with you until redemption, until the seventh year, or until Jubilee. For to me belong the Israelites, they are my servants, because I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.4c
This is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When He struck down the Egyptians, He passed over our houses. The Passover of the Lord falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the evening twilight. The fifteenth day of this month begins the Lord’s feast of Unleavened Bread.4d On the first of these days you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work. As an oblation, you shall offer in holocaust to the Lord two bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, all unblemished, along with their prescribed cereal offerings, and one goat as a sin offering. Make exactly this same offering each day for seven days, in addition to whatever regular holocausts with their libations, for a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. On the last day you shall again hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work.4e You shall not offer me the blood of sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the Passover feast be kept overnight until the next day.4f For seven days you shall eat with it only unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, that you may remember as long as you live the day of your departure from the land of Egypt: in frightened haste you left, with loins girt, sandals on your feet, and staff in hand, because with a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.4g Only at the place which God chooses as the dwelling place of His name, and in evening at sunset, on the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt, shall you sacrifice the Passover. You shall roast it whole and eat it at this place; then in the morning you may return to your tents.4h
Those who are unclean or on journey may celebrate the Passover on the same date in the second month. All others who yet fail to keep the Passover shall be cut off from among their people.4i No man who is uncircumcised may partake of the lamb sacrifice. It must be eaten in one and the same house. You shall not break any of its bones; the blood of the lamb has marked the houses where you live; seeing the blood, I will pass over. The whole community of Israel must keep this feast. The law shall be the same for the resident alien as for the native.4j
The length of the Israelites stay in bondage was four hundred and thirty years. At the end of this time all the hosts of the Lord left from Egypt on this very date. This was a night of vigil for the Lord, as He led them out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, on this same night all the Israelites must keep a vigil for the Return of the Lord throughout their generations.4k
When you come into the land which the Lord is giving you and reap your first harvest of cereal grass, you shall bring a sheaf to the priest who, on the day after the Passover Sabbath, shall wave the sheaf before the Lord that it may be acceptable for you. Until this day you shall eat no new bread, roasted grain, or fresh kernels.4l No one shall appear before me emptyhanded.4m Beginning with the day when you wave-offer the sheaf, which is the day when the sickle is first put to the standing grain, you shall count seven full weeks, and then on the fiftieth day you shall present the new cereal offerings to the Lord.4n The measure of your own freewill offering shall be in proportion to the blessing the Lord, your God, has bestowed on you.4o Besides the bread, you shall offer in holocaust to the Lord oblations equal to that of Passover. The bread of the first-fruits and two lambs which the priest waves before the Lord shall belong to him. Likewise on this Feast of Weeks or Pentecost you shall hold a sacred assembly and do not sort of work.4p
When you come into the land and plant any fruit tree there, for three years while its fruit remains uncircumcised it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all of its fruit shall be sacred to the Lord as a thanksgiving feast to Him. Not until the fifth year may you eat its fruit. Thus will it continue to yield for you.4q
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and winepress, you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast in honor of the Lord. For seven days you shall dwell in Booths – constructed of the branches of palms and other majestic trees, that you descendants may realize how, when God led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, he made them dwell in booths. The first and eighth days shall be days for sacred assembly and complete rest, a time for the reading of the Law in every seventh year.4r
Since the Lord, your God, has blessed you in all your crops and in all your undertakings, everyone shall do nought but make merry and give in proportion to those blessings.4s Every day except the last equivalent day shall see twice the Passover sacrifice of rams and unblemished yearling lambs, with one goat as a sin offering. Fourteen less the number of the day records the amount of bullocks sacrificed: seventy in all plus one more on the eighth day.4t The Lord will drive out the other nations to give you a large territory, so there will be no one to covet your land when you go up three times a year, at Passover, Pentecost, and Booths, to appear before the Lord, your God. The choicest first-fruits of your soil shall you bring to the house of the Lord.4u The priest will receive your basket and set it in front of the altar. Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, how He heard our cries of oppression in Egypt, to lead us out from thence unto a land flowing with milk and honey, of which these are its first fruits.4v
As free-will offerings, you may give for vows and festivals wine and oil and flour. Contribute also cakes of your first batch of dough.4w
4a Ex 20:8-11; 34:21; 35:3 4b Ex 23:10-11 4c Lev 25:8-10, 16-17, 23-25, 29-31, 32-34, 39-43 4d Lev 23:5-6; Ex 12:27 4e Num 28:18-25 4f Ex 34:25 4g Deut 16:3; Ex 12:11; 13:9 4h Deut 16:5-7 4i Num 9:9-13 4j Ex 12:43-49; 12:13 4k Ex 12:40-42 4l Lev 23:9-14 4m Ex 23:15 4n Lev 23:15-16; Deut 16:9 4o Deut 16:10 4p Lev 23:17-21 4q Lev 19:23-25 4r Lev 23:33-43; Deut 31:10-11 4s Deut 16:13-17 4t Num 29:12-39 4u Ex 34:23-24, 26 4v Deut 26:1-11 4w Num 15:1-21
5th Command
One Altar
Consecrate to me every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites, both of man and of beast, for it belongs to me.5a You shall not work the firstlings of your cattle, nor shear the firstlings of your flock. The firstling may stay with its mother for seven days, but on the eighth day you must give it to me. Year after year you and your family shall eat them before the Lord, your God. If, however, the firstling is lame or blind or has any other serious defect, it shall not be sacrificed, but the clean and the unclean persons alike shall consume it in your communities.5b [You shall not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day with its young.]5c
Every first-born of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep. If you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every first-born son you must redeem. If your son should ask you later on, ‘What does this mean?’, you shall tell him: ‘When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every first-born in the land of Egypt, both of man and of beast; that is why I sacrifice to the Lord everything of the male sex that opens the womb among the Israelites and why I redeem every first-born of my sons.’5d
Purify the Levites, because I have taken them unto myself in place of every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites; and I have given these dedicated Israelites to Aaron and his sons to discharge the duties in the meeting tent and to make atonement for them, so that no plague may strike the Israelites should they come near the sanctuary.5e
An altar of earth shall you make for me, or an altar of unhewn stone, and upon it you shall sacrifice your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In whatever place I choose for the remembrance of My name, I will come to you and bless you.5f Whoever sacrifices to any god, except to the Lord alone, shall be doomed.5g Any Israelite who makes sacrifice, whether in the camp or outside it, without first bringing it to the entrance of the meeting tent to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of his Dwelling shall be judged guilty of bloodshed and for this shall be cut off from among his people.5h
There at the altar I will meet the Israelites; hence it will be made sacred by my glory. Thus will I consecrate the meeting tent and the altar, just as I also consecrate Aaron and his sons to be my priests.5i Engraved on two onyx stones Aaron shall bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on the shoulder straps of his ephod-apron. Whenever Aaron enters the sanctuary, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel, one stone for each, on the breastpiece of decision over his heart as a constant reminder before the Lord. He also shall wear gold bells when ministering so that tinkling may be heard whenever he enters or leaves the Lord’s presence in the sanctuary. Since Aaron bears whatever guilt the Israelites might incur consecrating their gifts, over his forehead a plate is to be tied bearing the words ‘Sacred to the Lord’, so that they may find favor with the Lord.5j
Each morning and evening one unblemished yearling lamb is to be offered in holocaust to the Lord, with an established cereal offering of flour, oil, and wine. Each Sabbath two more unblemished lambs should be offered. The New Moon offerings of two bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, all unblemished, with one goat as a sin offering, is the standard for all other feasts.5k
The first day of the seventh month is New Year’s Day. The trumpet will blast as a reminder of this Sabbath rest on which you shall offer oblations identical to the New Moon feasts and Passover, short one bullock, besides the regular holocausts.5l
On the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, Aaron shall slaughter a bullock as his sin offering, to atone for himself and his family, and one male goat for the Israelite community. Then with this blood, he shall enter the holy of holies and make atonement for the sanctuary because of all the sinful defilements and faults of the Israelites. Laying his hands on the head of another goat, he shall next confess over it all the sins and transgressions of the Israelites, and let the scapegoat be sent away into the desert. On this day, also, a most solemn Sabbath, you must mortify yourselves with fasting and repeat the New Year’s oblations.5m
When anyone wishes to bring an animal offering to the Lord, such an offering must be from the herd or the flock. It must be a male without blemish. If one offers a bird as a holocaust, choose a turtledove or a pigeon.5n Every cereal offering that you present to the Lord shall be unleavened, for you shall not burn any leaven or honey as an oblation to the Lord. Every offering shall be seasoned with the salt of the covenant of your God. On the altar the priest shall burn a token amount; the rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons.5o A peace offering may be either a male or a female without blemish. The fatty membrane, the two kidneys, and the lobe of the liver, all this Aaron’s sons shall burn on the altar as a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord.5p
Inadvertent sin committed against some command of the Lord will be forgiven by the sprinkling of the blood of a young unblemished bull, which is then treated in the manner of a peace offering, and whose remaining parts are burned outside the camp in a clean place. Similarly, a prince should bring a male goat for his sin offering, while a private person should offer a female goat or lamb.5q If, however, he cannot afford an animal from the flock, two turtledoves or two pigeons will suffice, one as a sin offering and the other for a holocaust; or fine flour which is treated in the manner of cereal offerings. Someone who inadvertently deprives the Lord of His sacred dues, or denies his neighbor what is rightfully his, shall confess his sin and offer one unblemished ram, and restore the full amount plus one-fifth additional value. Such is the offering for guilt: the penalty of the guilt must be paid to the Lord.5r But anyone who sins defiantly, has despised the word of the Lord, and having broken his commandment, shall be cut off; he has only himself to blame.5s
The fire is to be kept continuously burning on the altar; it must not go out. Whatever touches the oblations becomes sacred; all the male descendants of Aaron may partake of it, and in most instances their dependents, but not the cereal offering of priests which shall be burnt. And no one may partake of an offering made in atonement of the sanctuary.5t Because the sin offering and the guilt offering are alike, both having the same ritual, the guilt offering belongs to the priest who makes atonement.
When anyone makes a peace offering in thanksgiving, together with his sacrifice and unleavened offerings he shall include loaves of leavened bread for the communion meal afterward. The flesh should be eaten on the same day it is offered; none of it may be kept till the next day. However, if the sacrifice is a votive, general peace, or free-will offering, it may be eaten on the next day, but the leftovers on the third day must be burned. All who are clean may partake of this flesh; but should the flesh touch anything unclean, it must not be eaten; and he who eats while unclean shall be cut off from among his people. The priest’s portions of the peace offering shall be the breast, which is waved before the Lord, and the right leg with shoulder, which as an offering to the Lord is raised up in contribution.5u The sin offering is given to the priests to be eaten in a sacred place that they might bear the guilt of the community and make atonement for them before the Lord.5v
Be on your guard! Do not inquire regarding their gods, ‘How did these other nations worship their gods? I too shall do the same.’ You shall not thus worship the Lord, your God, because they offered unto their gods every abomination that the Lord detests, even burning their sons and their daughters.5w [You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.]5x I myself turn against these evil slaughterers of children to put them to death.5y
From every man you shall accept the contribution that his heart prompts him to give. This collection is for My House.5z And order the Israelites to bring clear oil of crushed olives for the sanctuary light, so that the lamps may be kept burning regularly. On each Sabbath day showbread is to be set out afresh before the Lord: offered on the part of the Israelites by an everlasting agreement, but eaten in a sacred place, as something most sacred, by Aaron and his sons.5aa
Each year you shall tithe from all the produce that grows in your fields. You shall bring it to God’s dwelling place and eat in His presence the tithe of grain, wine, and oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, that you may learn always to fear the Lord, your God. The tithe may be exchanged for money, if the distance is too great or too difficult for you to manage; even so will you re-exchange the money for sheep or oxen upon arrival that you may enjoy the Lord’s feast with your family. At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithes of the produce for that year and deposit them in community stores for the Levites, the alien, the orphan, and the widow to eat their fill; and the Lord will bless you in all that you undertake.5bb I have assigned to the priests all the best of the grain, the new wine, and of the new oil. Whatever is doomed in Israel shall be theirs. Every living thing that opens the womb, both of man of beast, shall be theirs, although the boy’s redemption takes the form of a ransom. But they shall not have any heritage in the land of the Israelites, nor hold any portion among them; I will be their portion and their heritage. The tithes of Israel are the Levites’ recompense for their service in the meeting tent. Of this harvest they shall contribute a tithe of the tithes to Aaron.5cc No matter where a Levite may go, he may minister there in the name of the Lord, his God, and is so entitled to receive the same portion as the rest.5dd Concerning this, you shall declare before the Lord, your God, I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the alien, the orphan, and the widow; I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord. Look down, then, from heaven, your holy abode, and bless your people Israel.5ee Take care also that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in the land.5ff Out of the Israelites’ hereditary property they shall give the Levites, besides the six cities of asylum, 42 cities for homes, as well as the pasture lands around them. These shall extend a thousand cubits from the city walls in each direction.5gg
When you take a census of the Israelites, each person of 20 years or more, as he is enrolled, shall pay the Lord a set amount of tax to avoid the plague of registry. The rich need not give more, nor shall the poor give less. Let this donation remind the Israelites of the forfeit paid for their lives.5hh The fruits of combat are to be divided evenly between the soldiers and the rest of the community. The levy tax is two percent; for the fighters, a tenth less.5ii
A vow offering one or more persons to the Lord finds redemption in a fixed sum or according to a ransom which is in keeping with the means of the one who made the vow. All animals that may be sacrificed, when vowed to the Lord, become sacred, substitutions notwithstanding. Unclean animals may be redeemed, provided one-fifth additional value is paid. This same interest applies to houses and fields redeemed prior to Jubilee. If the owner decides to sell his field instead, this selling of property while in the hands of the Lord dooms the field, and at Jubilee it becomes priestly property forever. A dedicated field which was only purchased by its vower has a value in proportion to the number of years until the next Jubilee, at which time it reverts back to its hereditary owner. Note that you cannot dedicate to the Lord something that already belongs to him, such as a first-born animal. When the tithes of your herd and flock are counted, every tenth animal, good or bad, belongs to the Lord; no exchange is possible, otherwise both the original animal and the substitute shall be forfeited. But if someone desires to buy back the tithes of the land, cost is required plus one-fifth additional value. Note, also, that nothing doomed may be sold or ransomed. Even human beings when doomed lose their right to be redeemed; they must suffer death.5jj
Whether a vow to do good or a pledge of abstinence, a man must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered. While in her father’s house, a maiden’s vow or pledge, though permissible, is subject to her father’s approval, and should he nullify the vow, the Lord releases the woman from guilt. If her vow extends into marriage, her new husband has but the day on which he learns of it to express his disapproval, and so release her. A vow or pledge made while married is subject familiarly to her husband’s one-day approval. If later he countermands the vow, the Lord release the wife, but now the husband is responsible for her guilt. Any vow of a widow or a divorced woman is valid.5kk When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it; otherwise you will be held guilty, for the Lord is strict in requiring it of you. Should you refrain from making a vow, you will not be held guilty, but you must keep your solemn word and fulfill all you have freely promised.5ll
The Nazarite vow for a man or a woman is this: he shall abstain from strong drink, from wine, or any kind of grape juice. He shall not eat anything of the produce of the vine. While under the Nazarite vow, no razor shall touch his head, but he shall let his hair grow freely. Dedication to the Lord prohibits him from entering any place where a dead person is, even for members of his own family. If someone should die in his presence very suddenly, his head becomes unclean; so he must again shave his head after seven days of purification, and on the eighth day he shall bring to the priest two turtledoves or two pigeons, one as a sin offering, and the other for a holocaust. The previous period is not valid because his dedicated head became unclean. At the completion of his period of dedication, the Nazarite shall bring to the priest one unblemished yearling lamb for an holocaust, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb for a sin offering, and one unblemished ram as a peace offering, along with their cereal offerings and libations, and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour and unleavened wafers, both spiced with oil. Then at the entrance of the meeting tent the Nazarite shall shave his head, collect the hair, and put it in the fire that is under the peace offering. From this peace offering, one unleavened cake and one unleavened wafer and the shoulder of the ram shall be placed in the hands of the Nazarite as his blessing. The breast and the right leg with its shoulder belong to the priest.5mm
5a Ex 13:2 5b Deut 15:19-22; Ex 22:29 (22:30 KJV) 5c Lev 22:28 5d Ex 13:11-16 5e Num 8:15-19 5f Ex 20:24-25 5g Ex 22:19 (22:20 KJV) 5h Lev 17:1-4 5i Ex 29:43-46 5j Ex 28:9-21, 33-38 5k Num 28:3-15 5l Num 29:1-6 5m Lev 16:5-31; Num 29:7-11 5n Lev 1:1-17 5o Lev 2:9-13 5p Lev 3:1-5 5q Lev 4:1-35 5r Lev 5:1-19 5s Num 15:30-31 5t Lev 22:10-16; 6:1-23 (6:9-30 KJV) 5u Lev 7:7-36; 22:29-30 5v Lev 10:17 5w Deut 12:29-31 5x Ex 23:19 5y Lev 20:1-5 5z Ex 25:2-8 5aa Lev 24:1-9 5bb Deut 14:22-29 5cc Num 18:12-30 5dd Deut 18:6-8 5ee Deut 26:12-15 5ff Deut 12:19 5gg Num 35:1-8 5hh Ex 30:11-16 5ii Num 31:25-31 5jj Lev 27:2-33 5kk Num 30:3-16 5ll Deut 23:22-24 (23:21-23 KJV) 5mm Num 6:1-21
6th Command
One Life
God created man in His image; in the divine image He created him – male and female created He them. God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.’6a
I have charged the judges over you, Listen to complaints among your kinsmen and administer true justice. In rendering judgement, do not consider who a person is. Give ear to the lowly and the great alike, fearing no man, for judgement is of God.6b From time to time I will raise up a prophet like Moses, chosen from among yourselves, and I will put My words into his mouth and he shall them all that I command him. If any man will not listen to My words, which he speaks in My name, I will make him answer for it. But if a prophet presumes to speak in My name an oracle which I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die. If you say to yourselves, How can we recognize an oracle which the Lord has spoken?, know that even though a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the Lord did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously and you shall have no fear of him.6c
Be holy, because I, the Lord, your God, am holy.6d Keep my statutes. Do not breed any of your domestic animals with others of a different species. Do not sow your fields with two different kinds of seed. If you do, its produce shall become forfeit – both the crop you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. Do not wear a garment woven with two different kinds of thread, wool and linen. You shall not plow with an ox and an ass harnessed together.6e You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out grain.6f In the season of harvesting, you shall not be so thorough as to reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of grain. Likewise you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. When you knock down the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not go over the branches a second time. Let what remains from all these efforts be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. For remember that you were once slaves in Egypt; that is why I command you to observe this rule.6g Those of you who while journeying go through your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many of the grapes as you wish, but do not put them in a basket. When you go through your neighbor’s grain field, you may pluck some of the seeds with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.6h If while walking along, you chance upon a bird’s nest with young birds or eggs in it, in the tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is still sitting on them, the brood you may take away, but the mother bird shall be set free. It is thus that you shall have prosperity and a long life.6i
God said, I give to you every seed-bearing plant and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food.6j Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat; I give them to you as I did the green plants.6k In any of your communities you may slaughter and eat to your hearts’ desire as much meat as the Lord, your God, has blessed you with; and all may eat of it. But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water and cover it with earth.6l Since the life of a living body is in the blood, I have made you put it on the altar, so that atonement may thereby be made for your lives, because it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonement.6m The sacredness of blood shall be observed by everyone. And you shall not eat the fat of the offering from any ox, sheep, or goat. If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which an oblation is made to the Lord, such a person shall be cut off from among his people.6n You shall be men sacred to me. Flesh torn to pieces in the field you shall not eat; throw it to the dogs.6o When one of the animals that you could otherwise eat dies of itself, touching it brings uncleanness and eating it makes you unclean until evening.6p Other animals that have died of themselves only the alien may eat, or you may sell them to foreigners.6q
You shall not eat any abominable thing: neither the camel, the rock badger, the hare, nor the pig. Their flesh you shall not eat and their dead bodies you shall not touch. Of all the land animals these are the ones you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the antelope, the mountain sheep, and the wild goat; in short any animal with hooves, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud. Of the various creatures that live in the water, you may eat only those which possess both fin and scale. All others are loathsome for you. Of birds you shall loathe mainly the scavenger and the bird of prey; bats also. All insects are loathsome for you, except those which have wings and/or four jointed legs for leaping on the ground, such as certain kinds of locusts, grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. Rodents and lizards are also loathsome. Contact with dead, loathsome creatures brings uncleanness to all objects and persons, but not to running water or unmoistened grain.6r
If someone, without being aware of it, touches any unclean thing, or touches some human uncleanness, whatever kind of uncleanness this may be, and then recognizes his guilt, he shall confess that the sin has occurred, and as his sin offering he shall bring to the Lord a female animal from the flock, a ewe lamb or a she-goat. Such is the uncleanness that he contracts that he shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.6s
After the birth of a boy, a woman shall be unclean for seven days with the same uncleanness as at her menstrual period; and for thirty three days more in becoming purified of her blood, shall not touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary. The period of purification after the birth of a girl is twice as long. Then she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering.6t
A woman having a menstrual flow exists in a state of impurity for seven days. Anything she touches or touches her becomes unclean. Anyone whom she touches or touches her shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. If a woman is afflicted with a flow of blood beyond her menstrual period, for as long as the flow continues she shall be unclean. If she becomes freed from her affliction, she shall wait seven days, and only then is he to be purified by bringing to the priest on the eighth day two turtledoves or two pigeons, one as a sin offering and the other for a holocaust.6u
When a man lies carnally with a woman, they both shall bathe in water and be unclean until evening.6v If a man dares to lie with a woman while in her menstrual period, he contracts her impurity, which makes other persons and other things he touches unclean.6w For continual abuse, they both shall be cut off from among their people.6x When a man has an emission of seed, he shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.6y If a man is afflicted with a chronic flow, behavior concerning external contact is governed by the same rules generally applicable to menstruating women. In some cases involving serious affliction, touched earthenware shall be broken; every wooden article shall be rinsed. Even the victim’s spitting on a clean man makes him unclean. Freedom from affliction requires a similar purification.6z
Warn the Israelites of their uncleanness, lest by defiling my Dwelling, which in their midst, their uncleanness be the cause of their death.6aa While in camp during an expedition, keep yourselves from everything offensive. The unclean are to stay outside the camp. There you shall set aside a place to be used as a latrine. With a trowel you shall dig a hole and afterward cover up your excrement. Since the Lord, your God, journeys along within your camp to defend you and to put your enemies at your mercy, your camp must be holy. If He sees anything indecent in your midst, He shall leave your company.6bb
No man who has suffered great injury to his private parts may be admitted into the community of the Lord. No child of an incestuous union may be admitted; no Ammonite or Moabite. But the Edomite and the Egyptian may be admitted into the Israelite community for their children of the third generation.6cc
A man who loses his hair is not unclean merely because of his bald crown. But if someone has on his skin a scab or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to the priest who will examine his sore. The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent, his head bare, and shall muffle his beard. He shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ and he shall dwell apart.6dd If the priest finds that the sore of leprosy has healed, with two clean birds provided by the leper, he shall sprinkle him seven times with a mixture of the blood of one bird slain over spring water. The other bird he shall let fly away over the countryside. The man shall then wash his garments, shave off all his body hair, bathe in water, and remain outside the camp for seven more days; at the end of which he shall repeat the cleansing and shaving, and on the eighth day offer two unblemished male lambs, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb, fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil. The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the man’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot (the same ritual followed in priestly ordination). Pouring some of the oil into the palm of his left hand and dipping his right forefinger into it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, then retouch each spot he previously placed with blood on the leper. The rest of the oil the priest shall put on the man’s head. Only after this shall he sacrifice the ewe lamb as a sin offering, and the remaining male lamb for a holocaust.6ee A garment infected with some mold or fungus growth which is known as the leprosy of clothes must be destroyed by fire.6ff A house infected with corrosive leprosy must be pulled down, and all of its stones, beams, and mortar hauled away to an unclean place. Yet if by reconstruction and plastering the infection has been healed, purification measures such as those of the seven days for lepers are followed using two clean birds.6gg
Whoever touches the dead body of any human being, or who touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days. All who are present or who enter a tent in which a person has died become unclean for seven days. Ashes from the burning of an unblemished red heifer dissolved in water is to be sprinkled over the persons and over the tent on the third and seventh day. The ones who prepare, handle, and sprinkle this lustral water also become unclean; so they must wash their garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.6hh
Those of you who have slain anyone or touched anyone slain in battle, shall purify yourselves on the third and seventh day, along with every article of cloth and equipment. Whatever can stand fire, such as gold and other metals, shall be purified in fire and afterwards sprinkled with the lustral water. Whatever cannot stand fire shall be dipped into the lustral water.6ii
You shall not go up by steps onto my altar. You must not be indecently dressed thereon.6jj
6a Gen 1:26-28 6b Deut 1:16-18 6c Deut 18:18-22 6d Lev 19:2 6e Lev 19:19; Deut 22:9-11 6f Deut 25:4 6g Lev 19:9-10; Deut 24:19-22 6h Deut 23:25-26 (23:24-25 KJV) 6i Deut 22:6-7 6j Gen 1:29 6k Gen 9:3 6l Deut 12:15-16; Lev 17:13 6m Lev 17:10-14 6n Lev 7:22-27 6o Ex 22:30 (22:31 KJV) 6p Lev 11:39-40 6q Deut 14:21 6r Lev 11:1-38 6s Lev 5:2-6; 11:24,31,39 6t Lev 12:2-8 6u Lev 15:19-30 6v Lev 15:18 6w Lev 15:24 6x Lev 20:18 6y Lev 15:16 6z Lev 15:1-15 6aa Lev 15:31 6bb Deut 23:10-15 (23:9-14 KJV) 6cc Deut 23:2-9 (23:1-8 KJV) 6dd Lev 13:1-46 6ee Lev 14:1-32; 8:23; Ex 29:20 6ff Lev 13:47-59 6gg Lev 14:33-53 6hh Num 19:2-22 6ii Num 31:19-24 6jj Ex 20:26
7th Command
One Honor
To the woman God said, ‘I will intensify the pangs of your child-bearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master’.7a
A comely woman taken captive in war that you wish to have for wife, shall shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive’s garb. After a month of mourning you may marry her. If later on you lose your liking for her, you shall grant her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she married you under compulsion.7b
Slaves, male and female, you may indeed possess, provided you buy them from aliens or other nations. Such slaves you may own as chattel and leave to your sons as their hereditary property, making them perpetual slaves. But you shall not lord it harshly over any of the Israelites, your kinsmen.7c Servants must submit themselves to their masters;7d however, you shall not hand over to his master a slave who has taken refuge from him with you. Let him live with you wherever he chooses, in any of your communities that pleases him. Do not molest him.7e If a Hebrew man or woman sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service without cost a free man. When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed, but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and winepress, just as the Egyptians were so well-disposed toward the Israelites when the Lord, your God, ransomed you. Be not reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man’s salary.7f If the slave comes into service alone, he shall leave alone. If he comes with a wife, she shall leave with him. But if his master has provided him with a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her offspring shall remain the master’s property and the man shall leave alone. If, however, the slave declares, ‘I am devoted to my master, to my wife and children, I will not go free’, his master shall bring him to God and there, at the door or at the doorpost, he shall pierce his ear through with an awl, thus keeping him as a slave forever. When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as male slaves do. If her master, who has destined her for marriage, dislikes her, he shall let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreigner since he has broken faith with her. If he has destined her for his son, he shall treat her like a daughter. If he takes another wife, he shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. If he does not grant her these three things, she shall be given her freedom absolutely, without cost to her.7g When a man strikes his slave in the eye and destroys the use of that eye, he shall set the slave free in compensation for the eye. The same is true for a broken tooth. Yet a man shall be punished for a slave that dies under his harsh hand, excepting that the slave lives on for the third day.7h
Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you.7i Then let the curse of obedience, though in sin, fall upon your parents.7j On the other hand, whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.7k And if there be a stubborn or unruly son in Israel who will not listen to his parents, and will not obey them even though they chastise him, then his father and mother shall have him apprehended and brought out to the elders at the gate of his home city, and there they shall witness against him. Whereupon they and all of his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge this evil from your midst and all Israel, on hearing of it, shall fear.7l
Stand up in the presence of the aged, and show respect for the elderly; thus shall you demonstrate fear of God.7m Listen to the judges, carry out all their decisions regarding legal matters or else face capital punishment.7n Obey the authority of priests. Honor him as sacred who offers up the food of your God; treat him as sacred because I, the Lord, who have consecrated him, am sacred.7o And fear the servants of the Lord, God’s prophets.7p
You shall not revile God, nor curse a prince of your people.7q Should you ever decide to have a king set over you, he shall be a man chosen by God from among your kinsmen. He shall not accumulate great wealth, a great number of wives, a great number of war horses, nor shall he align himself with Egypt or return there. He shall have his own copy of the law that he become not estranged from his countrymen through pride, nor turn aside to the right or to the left from these commandments. Then he and his descendants will enjoy a long reign in Israel.7r
A man with two wives who loves one and dislikes the other, but the first-born son is of her whom he dislikes, shall not overlook this son in favor of the first-born of his beloved wife. Contrarily, the first-born son of her whom he dislikes shall receive a double share of property and possessions, as is the son’s right as first-fruit of his manhood.7s If a man dies without leaving a son, his heritage shall pass to his daughter, who must be sure to marry within her tribe. If he has no daughter, give the heritage to his brothers. Next in line is his father’s brothers; beyond this his nearest living relative.7t
A man who is newlywed need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him for a period of one year.7u An exemption is made for those soldiers who have a new house to dedicate or a vineyard from which no fruits have been enjoyed. Let the fearful also return home, lest he make his fellows as fainthearted as himself.7v
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life. If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has man been made.7w You shall not kill.7x Whoever takes the life of any human being, though it be his father or his mother, shall be put to death; and whoever takes the life of an animal shall make restitution of another animal: a life for a life!7y A man who has struck another with some weapon, or pushed another out of hatred, or has carried out some other evil act for causing death, the avenger of blood may execute on sight. However, if a man pushes another accidentally and not out of enmity, or without setting the situation casts some object upon him, or without seeing him throws a death-dealing stone which strikes him and causes his death, although he was not his enemy, nor seeking to harm him, or whenever someone unwittingly kills his neighbor to whom he had previously borne no malice; for example, if he goes with his neighbor to a forest to cut some wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the ax head flies off the handle and hits his neighbor with a mortal blow; then the community, deciding the case between the slayer and the avenger of blood, shall free the homicide from the avenger of blood and shall remand him to a city of asylum to take refuge; and he shall stay there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with sacred oil. If the homicide of his own accord leaves the bounds of the city of asylum and the avenger of blood finds him beyond these bounds and kills him, there is no bloodguilt. Six cities of asylum shall you assign, and more if necessary, three on each side of the Jordan, with prearranged routes thereto so that the slayer may find refuge. But if an intentional murderer has taken refuge in one of these cities, the elders of his own city shall send for him, and hand him over to be slain by the avenger of blood. Do not behold him with pity.7z And cursed be him who accepts payment for slaying an innocent man.7aa
The corpse of every slain man, even one found lying in the wilderness, cries out to God from the soil where the blood was shed. Therefore, the elders of the nearest city shall take a heifer that has never been under the yoke down to a stream; and in the presence of priests, they shall wash their hands over the heifer, whose throat has been cut, and shall declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this man’s blood, and our eyes did not see the deed. Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel’. Then let this stream carry away the guilt of shedding innocent blood.7bb A man put to death for a capital offense and whose corpse is afterward hung on a tree as a warning, must be buried by the close of the same day. Since God’s curse rests on him who hangs on a tree, you might otherwise defile your land.7cc And if the death you deliver in even a holy battle is not stayed by some measure of your own blood, you shall bring to the Lord gold to be fashioned into a memorial.7dd
When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must be stoned; its flesh may not be eaten, and the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. But an owner who has been warned by previous experiences shall die with his contentious animal, or pay whatever amount imposed on him. He shall pay a master only the purchase price for the death of a slave. Negligent incidents, such as traps or uncovered pits or cisterns, involving the death of an animal require making good the value of the animal to its owner. The dead animal he may keep. Contests between neighboring animals ending in death imply an equal division of the fallen for equally passive oxen, but restitution by the owner of an ox previously known to be in the habit of goring.7ee A farmer whose field or vineyard is consumed by his neighbor’s slashing fire or by his animals grazing over, shall seek restitution from his neighbor’s best produce.7ff
Anyone who inflicts an injury on his neighbor shall receive the same in return: an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, limb for limb, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. When men quarrel and one strikes another, not mortally, but enough to put him in bed, he shall be acquitted; still he must compensate him for his enforced idleness and provide for his complete cure.7gg When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one shall be fined as much as the woman’s husband demands of him, and he shall pay in the presence of the judges.7hh When two men are fighting and the wife of one intervenes to save her husband by seizing his opponent by his private parts, you shall chop off her hand without pity.7ii When a man gives money or any article to another for safekeeping and it is stolen from the custodian’s house, the thief, if caught, must make two-fold restitution. If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall be brought before God to swear that he himself did not lay hands on his neighbor’s property. In every question of deliberated appropriation, both parties shall present their case before God and the one whom God convicts must make two-fold restitution to the other. When a man gives an animal to another for safekeeping, and it dies, or is maimed, or is snatched away, without anyone witnessing the fact, he must accept the other’s oath of sworn honesty and no restitution is to be made. But if the custodian is really guilty, he must make restitution. If it has been killed by a wild beast, evidence of the mangled body will affirm innocence and dissuade restitution. A borrowed animal that becomes maimed or dies, and only when the owner is not present, must be fully compensated. Injury is covered by the price of the hire.7jj Whenever a victim has died and has no next of kin to whom restoration of ill-gotten goods can be made, such goods return to the Lord, so the wrongdoer must cede them to the priests.7kk
7a Gen 3:16 7b Deut 21:10-14 7c Lev 25:44-46 7d Gen 16:9-12 7e Deut 23:16-17 (23:15-16 KJV) 7f Deut 15:12-18 7g Ex 21:2-11 7h Ex 21:20-21, 26-27 7i Ex 20:12 7j Gen 27:13 7k Ex 21:17 7l Deut 21:18-21 7m Lev 19:32 7n Deut 17:8-13 7o Lev 21:8 7p Deut 18:18-19 7q Ex 22:27 (22:28 KJV) 7r Deut 17:14-20 7s Deut 21:15-17 7t Num 27:5-11 7u Deut 24:5 7v Deut 20:5-8 7w Gen 9:5-6 7x Ex 20:13 7y Ex 21:12-15; Lev 24:17-22 7z Num 35:6-29; Deut 19:1-13 7aa Deut 27:25 7bb Deut 21:1-9 7cc Deut 21:22-23 7dd Num 31:48-54 7ee Ex 21:28-36 7ff Ex 22:4-5 (22:5-6 KJV) 7gg Ex 21:18-19; 23-25; Lev 24:19-20; Deut 19:21 7hh Ex 21:22-25 7ii Deut 25:11-12 7jj Ex 22:6-14 (22:7-15 KJV) 7kk Num 5:5-8
8th Command
One Heart
When a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall pay the marriage price and marry her, since he has deflowered her. Moreover, he may not divorce her as long as he lives. If her father refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the customary marriage price for virgins.8a If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s intended wife. However, if this happens in an open field or away from all possible aid, only the man shall die.8b A priest’s daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby profanes her father shall be burned to death.8c A girl who has married under the pretense of being a virgin shall be stoned to death. But if her husband’s charge of, ‘I did not find your daughter a virgin’, is false, he shall pay the girl’s father twice the marriage price, and she shall remain his wife for as long as he lives. Besides the husband shall be flogged for having defamed a virgin in Israel.8d
You shall not commit adultery.8e Both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.8f And if a man has a relationship with a female slave who is not a virgin, they both shall be punished, but not put to death because she is not free.8g A husband who suspects his wife of having gone astray shall bring her to a priest along with a cereal offering of jealousy. Then, as the woman stands before the Lord, the priest shall uncover her head and place in her hands the cereal offering, which is for her an appeal to the Lord to be burned on the altar. The woman shall drink bitter water which brings a curse for unfaithfulness.8h
A man shall not dishonor his father’s bed.8i You shall not have intercourse with your mother or your stepmother, your daughter or your wife’s daughter, your mother-in-law or your daughter-in-law. At no time shall you have intercourse with a woman and her offspring. The penalty for this is death. He who consummates marriage with his sister or his half-sister, his parent’s sister or his aunt, his brother’s wife or his wife’s sister shall pay the penalty of incest and die childless.8j
You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; such is an abomination and the penalty is death. You shall not have carnal relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself down in front of an animal in order to mate with it. Such things are abhorrent; both the human and his animal partner shall be slain.8k
There must be no remarriage by a man to his former wife who in the meantime has married another man.8l When two brothers hold property in common and one of them dies without leaving a son, the other shall go to his widowed wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her, and continuing the line of his deceased brother in the form of a first-born son. Failure to do so entitles the widow in the presence of the elders to strip her brother-in-law of his sandal and spit in his face, for he will not build up his brother’s family.8m
A woman shall not wear any article proper to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s dress. Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord, your God.8n
8a Ex 22:15-16 (22:16-17 KJV); Deut 22:28-29 8b Deut 22:23-27 8c Lev 21:9 8d Deut 22:13-21 8e Ex 20:14 8f Deut 22:22; Lev 20:10 8g Lev 19:20-22 8h Num 5:11-31 8i Deut 23:1 (22:30 KJV) 8j Lev 18:6-18; 20:10-21 8k Ex 22:18 (22:19 KJV); Lev 18:22-23; 20:13, 15-16 8l Deut 24:1-4 8m Deut 25:5-10 8n Deut 22:5
9th Command
One Oath
You shall not steal.9a If a thief is caught in the act of housebreaking at night and beaten to death, there is no bloodguilt involved. But if after sunrise he is thus beaten, there is bloodguilt. The thief must make full restitution. If he has nothing, he shall be sold into slavery to pay for his theft. If what the thief has stolen is found alive in his possession, be it an ox, an ass, or a sheep, he shall restore two animals for each one stolen. If it has been slaughtered or sold, he shall restore five oxen for the one ox and four sheep for the one sheep.9b
Any man caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite in order to enslave him or sell him, shall be put to death.9c
A person who refuses to give information he has witnessed has the same guilt as touching uncleanness.9d You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. A judicial fact of guilt is established only on the testimony of more than one witness. The testimony of two or three witnesses is necessary for putting a man to death; no one shall be put to death on the testimony of just one witness. At the execution, the witnesses are to be the first to raise their hands against him; afterward all the people are to join in. To a false witness you shall have done what he intended to do against his neighbor.9e
You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another.9f You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen, nor shall you stand by idly while your neighbor’s life is at stake. You shall not repeat a false report. Do not join the wicked in putting your hand upon anyone. Neither shall you allege the example of the many as an excuse for doing wrong, nor shall you when testifying in a lawsuit, side with the many in perverting justice.9g
You shall not distort justice; you must be impartial. You shall not favor a rich man in his lawsuit. You shall not deny one of your needy fellow countrymen his legal rights. You must avoid dishonest results. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death, neither shall you acquit the guilty. Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds even the most clear-sighted and twists the words even of the just.9h You shall not accept indemnity in place of the life of a murderer who deserves death, nor to allow a refugee to leave his city of asylum. Since bloodshed desecrates the land, the land can have no atonement except through the blood of him who sheds it.9i Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers. Only for his own guilt shall a man be put to death.9j And if the guilty party deserves stripes, the judges shall have him lie down in the presence of the injured party to receive the number deserved, which must never be more than forty stripes; otherwise the severity would bring national disgrace.9k
You shall not swear falsely by My name, thus profaning the name of your God. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes His name in vain.9l Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death.9m Rash oaths are as touching uncleanness.9n
9a Ex 20:15 9b Ex 22:1-3 (22:2-4 KJV); Ex 21:37 (22:1 KJV) 9c Deut 24:7 9d Lev 5:1,5 9e Ex 20:16; Deut 5:20; 19:15-21; 17:6-7 9f Lev 19:11 9g Ex 23:1-2; Lev 19:16 9h Ex 23:3, 6-8; Deut 16:18-20 9i Num 35:31-34 9j Deut 24:16 9k Deut 25:1-3 9l Ex 20:7; Deut 5:11; Lev 19:12 9m Lev 24:16 9n Lev 5:4-5
10th Command
One People
Do not act dishonestly in using measures of length or weight or capacity. You must have a true scale and true weights, not one large and one small for deceiving others.10a
Do not defraud a poor and needy hired servant. Pay him each day’s wages before sundown since he is poor and looks forward to them.10b
Do not move your neighbor’s landmarks.10c
You shall not act like an extortionist. Lend to your fellow countrymen neither money at interest nor food for a profit. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to Me, I will surely hear him, for I am compassionate.10d But you shall not take the clothing of a widow as a pledge. And no one shall take a hand mill or even its upper stone as a pledge for debt, for that would be taking the debtor’s sustenance as a pledge.10e You may press a foreigner, but not your neighbor. Wait outside the house until the man to whom you are making the loan selects his pledge and brings it out to you. In every seventh year you shall relax all debts. Yet do not begrudge aid because the seventh year is near. Give freely and not with ill-will. The needy must never be for lack in my land. If you but heed these commandments, you will lend to many nations and borrow from none; you shall rule over many nations and none shall rule over you.10f
When you build a new house, put a parapet around the roof. Otherwise, if someone falls off, you will bring bloodguilt upon your house.10g
You shall not even see your enemy’s ox or sheep going astray or being driven astray without showing concern about it; assist in its return. If he does not live near you, or you do not know who he may be, take it to your place and keep it with you until he comes to claim it; then give it back to him. Do the same with anything else someone has lost and you happen to find. And when his beast of burden is foundering on the road, by no means desert him; help him, rather, to raise it up.10h
You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind.10i You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, incur no sin because of him. Take not revenge and cherish no grudge. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.10j And you shall treat the aliens who reside with you no differently than the native born; have the same love for them as for yourselves. Do not molest them; you well know how it feels to be an alien since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.10k You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.10l For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes; who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. So you must do.10m
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire any of his possessions.10n
These are in the majority the commandments of the Lord, your God. But your envy has made you spit in your Father’s face. Will you now replicate Korah, declaring, ‘Enough of this, the whole community of Israel is holy!’ The Lord makes known who belongs to Him and who is the holy one, and of whom He will have draw near to Him!10o How long will this people spurn Me? How long will they refuse to believe in Me despite all the many signs and wonders I have performed among them? I will strike them with pestilence and plague and wipe them out.10p For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their father’s wickedness on the children of those who hate Me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love Me and keep my commandments.10q For such is the apportionment of the Holy Spirit unto those who honor and keep the law; yet only through grace and the love of God is one spared the nails of its warranted crucifixion.
So now you are about to cross over Jordan, to dispossess nations greater and stronger than yourselves. But after the Lord, your God, has thrust them out of your way, do not pride yourselves into thinking: by the strength of my own hand I have obtained for me this wealth or it is because of my merits that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land, for it is really because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. No, it is not because of your merits or the integrity of your heart that you will take possession of the Promised Land; but the Lord, your God, is removing them on account of their wickedness and giving it to you in order to fulfill his promise to your forefathers.10r ‘O Abram, I will still make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.10s Learn, then, that I, I alone, am God, and there is no other God beside me.10t
10a Lev 19:35-37; Deut 25:13-16 10b Deut 24:14-15 10c Deut 19:14; 27:17 10d Lev 25:35-38; Ex 22:24-26 (22: 25-27 KJV) 10e Deut 24:6, 17-18 10f Deut 15:1-11; 23: 20-21 (23:19-20 KJV); 24:10-13 10g Deut 22:8 10h Ex 23:4-5; Deut 22:1-4 10i Lev 19:13-14 10j Lev 19:17-18 10k Lev 19:33-34 10l Ex 22:21-23 (22:22-24 KJV) 10m Deut 10:17-19 10n Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21 10o Num 16:1-7 10p Num 11:33; 14:11-12, 27-29; Deut 28:58-61 10q Ex 20:5-7 10r Deut 8:17-20; 9:1-6 10s Gen 12:2-3 10t Deut 32:39 Dr. Walter Boswell
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