Chapter 34

The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel. The offerings of the LORD and his inheritance they shall eat, but shall have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. And this is the duty of the priests, of the people and of them that offer, whether it be ox or sheep: They must give unto the priest, the shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw, the first fruits of thy corn, wine and oil, and the first of thy sheep shearing must thou give him. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stond and to minister in the name of the LORD: both him and his sons for ever. If a Levite come out of any of thy cities or any place of Israel, where he is a sojourner, and come with all the lust of his heart unto the place which the LORD hath chosen: he shall there minister in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do which stond there before the LORD. And they shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh to him of the patrimony of his elders. When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, see that thou learn not to do after the abominations of these nations. Let there not be found among you that maketh his son or his daughter go thorow fire, either a bruterar or a maker of dismal days or that useth witchcraft {or that useth withcraft, or a chooser out of days or that regardeth the flyeng of souls} or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or that speaketh {counseleth} with a spirit, or a soothsayer or that talketh with them that are dead. {prophesiar or that asketh the advise of the dead.} For all that do such things are abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doeth cast them out before thee, be pure therefore with the LORD thy God. For these nations which thou shalt conquer, hearken unto makers {choosers out} of dismal days and bruterars. {prophesyars, or profit-seers} But the LORD thy God permitteth not that to thee. The LORD thy God will stir up a Prophet among you: even of thy brethren like unto me: and unto him ye shall hearken according to all that thou desiredest of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day when the people were gathered saying: Let me hear the voice of my LORD God no more, nor see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the LORD said unto me: they have well spoken, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And whosoever will not hearken unto the words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet which shall presume to speak ought in my name which I commanded him not to speak, and he that speaketh in the name of strange gods, the same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, how shall I know that which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken. But the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: be not afeared therefore of him.

Chapter .xix.

When the LORD thy God hath destroyed the nations whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou hast conquered them and dwellest in their cities and in their houses: thou shalt appoint three cities in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it: thou shalt prepare the way and divide the coasts of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it: thou shalt prepare the way and divide the coasts of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts that whosoever committeth murder may flee thither. And this is the cause of the slayer that shall flee thither and be saved: If he smite his neighbour ignorantly and hated him not in time past: As when a man goeth unto the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and as his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe, the head slippeth from the helve and smiteth his neighbour that he die: the same shall flee unto one of the same cities and be saved. Lest the executer of blood follow after the slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him, and yet there is no cause worthy of death in him, inasmuch as he hated not his neighbour in time past. Wherefore I command thee saying: see that thou appoint out three cities. And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coasts as he hath sworn unto thy fathers and give thee all the land which he said he would give unto thy fathers (so that thou keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, that thou love the LORD thy God and walk in his ways ever) then thou shalt add three cities more unto those three, that innocent blood be not shed in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, and so blood come upon thee. But and if there be any man that hateth his neighbour and layeth await for him and riseth against him and smiteth him that he die, and fleeth unto any of these cities. Then let the elders of his city send and fetch him thence and deliver him into the hands of the justice of blood, and he shall die. Let thine eye have no pity on him, and so thou shalt put away innocent blood from Israel, and happy art thou. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's mark which they of old time have set in thine inheritance that thou inheritest in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to enjoy it. One witness shall not rise against a man in any manner trespass or sin, whatsoever sin a man sinneth: But at the mouth of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall all matters be tried. If an unrighteous witness rise up against a man to accuse him of trespass: then let both the men which strive together stond before the LORD, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days, and let the judges enquire a good. And if the witness be found false and that he hath given false witness against his brother then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother, and so thou shalt put evil away from thee. And other shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such wickedness among you. And let thine eye have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Chapter .xx.

When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots and people more than thou, be not afeared of them, for the LORD thy God is with thee which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And when ye are come nye unto battle, let the priest come forth and speak unto the people and say unto them: Hear Israel, ye are come unto battle against your enemies, let not your hearts faint, neither fear nor be amazed nor a dread of them. For the LORD thy God goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies and to save you. And let the officers speak unto the people saying: If any man have built a new house and have not dedicate it, let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle, and another dedicate it. And if any man have planted a vineyard and have not made it common, let him go and return again unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another make it common. And if any man be betrothed unto a wife and have not taken her, let him go and return again unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another take her. And let the officers speak further unto the people and say. If any man fear and be fainthearted, let him go and return unto his house, lest his brother's heart be made faint as well as his. And when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, let them make captains of war over them. When thou comest nye unto a city to fight against it, offer them peace. And if they answer thee again peaceably, and open unto thee, then let all the people that is found therein be tributaries unto thee and serve thee. But and if they will make no peace with thee, then make war against the city and besiege it. And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, smite all the males thereof with the edge of the sword, save the women and the children and the cattle and all that is in the city and all the spoil thereof take unto thyself and eat the spoil of thine enemies which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thus thou shalt do unto all the cities which are a great way off from thee and not of the cities of these nations. But in the cities of these nations which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. But shalt destroy them without redemption, both the Hethites, the Amorites, the Cananites, the Pherezites, the Hevites and the Iebusites, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they do unto their gods, and so should sin against the LORD your God. When thou hast besieged a city long time in making war against it to take it, destroy not the trees thereof, that thou wouldest thrust an axe unto them. For thou mayst eat of them, and therefore destroy them not. For the trees of the fields are no men that they might come against thee to besiege thee. Neverthelater those trees which thou knowest that men eat not of them, thou mayst destroy and cut them down and make bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be overthrown.

Chapter .xxj.

If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, and lieth in the fields, and not known who hath slain him: Then let thine elders and thy judges come forth and meet unto the cities that are round about the slain. And let the elders of that city which is next unto the slain man, take an heifer that is not laboured with nor hath drawn in the yoke, and let them bring her unto a valley where is neither earing nor sowing, and strike off her head there in the valley. Then let the priests the sons of Levi come forth (for the LORD thy God hath chosen them to minister and to bless in the name of the LORD and therefore at their mouth shall all strife and plague be tried.) And all the elders of the city that is next to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the plain, and shall answer and say: our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful LORD unto thy people Israel which thou hast delivered and put not innocent blood unto thy people Israel: and the blood shall be forgiven them. And so shalt thou put innocent blood from thee, when thou shalt have done that which is right in the sight of the LORD. When thou goest to war against thine enemies and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands and thou hast take them captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman and hast a fantasy unto her that thou wouldest have her to thy wife. Then bring her home to thine house and let her shave her head and pare her nails and put her raiment that she was taken in from her, and let her remain in thine house and beweep her father and her mother a month long and after that go in unto her and marry her and let her be thy wife. And if thou have no favour unto her, then let her go whither she lusteth: for thou mayst not sell her for money nor make chevisance of her, because thou hast humbled her. If a man have two wives, one loved and another hated, and they have borne him children, both the loved and also the hated. If the firstborn be the son of the hated: then when he dealeth his goods among his children, he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall know the son of the hated for his firstborn, that he give him double of all that he hath. For he is the first of his strength, and to him belongeth the right of the firstbornship. If any man have a son that is stubborn, and disobedient, that he will not hearken unto the voice of his father and voice of his mother, and they have taught him nurture, but he would not hearken unto them: Then let his father and his mother take him and bring him out unto the elders of that city and unto the gate of that same place, and say unto the elders of the city. This our son is stubborn and disobedient and will not hearken unto our voice, he is a rioter and a drunkard. Then let all the men of that city stone him with stones unto death. And so thou shalt put evil away from thee, and all Israel shall hear and fear. If a man have committed a trespass worthy of death and is put to death for it and hanged on tree: let not his body remain all night upon the tree, but bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him that is hanged. Defile not thy land therefore, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit.

Chapter .xxij.

If thou see thy brother's ox or sheep go astray, thou shalt not withdraw thyself from them: But shalt bring them home again unto thy brother. If thy brother be not nye unto thee or if thou know him not, then bring them unto thine own house and let them be with thee, until thy brother ask after them, and then deliver him them again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, with his raiment and with all lost things of thy brother which he hath lost and thou hast found, and thou mayst not withdraw thyself. If thou see that thy brother's ass or ox is fallen down by the way, thou shalt not withdraw thyself from them: but shalt help him to heave them up again. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto the man, neither shall a man put on woman's raiment. For all that do so, are abomination unto the LORD thy God. If thou chance upon a bird's nest by the way, in whatsoever tree it be or on the ground, whether they be young or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take the mother with the young. But shalt in any wise let the dam go and take the young, that thou mayst prosper and prolong thy days. When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement unto the roof, that thou lade not blood upon thine house, if any man fall thereof. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seed: lest thou hallow the seed which thou hast sown with the fruit of thy vineyard. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment made of wool and flax together. Thou shalt put ribbons upon the four quarters of thy vesture wherewith thou coverest thyself. If a man take a wife and when he hath lien with her hate her and lay shameful things unto her charge and bring up an evil name upon her and say: I took this wife, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then let the father of the damsel and the mother bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity, unto the elders of the city, even unto the gate. And let the damsel's father say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hateth her: and lo, he layeth shameful things unto her charge saying, I found not thy daughter a maid. And yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And let them spread the vesture before the elders of the city. Then let the elders of that city take that man and chastise him and merce him in an hundred sicles of silver and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a maid in Israel. And she shall be his wife, and he may not put her away all his days. But and if the thing be of a surety that the damsel be not found a virgin, let them bring her unto the door of her father's house, and let the men of that city stone her with stones to death, because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house. And so thou shalt put evil away from thee. If a man be found lying with a woman, that hath a wedded husband, then let them die either other of them: both the man that lie with the wife and also the wife: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a maid be handfasted unto an husband, and then a man find her in the town and lay with her, then ye shall bring them both out unto the gates of that same city and shall stone them with stones to death: The damsel because she cried not being in the city: And the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife, and thou shalt put away evil from thee. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field and force her and lie with her: Then the man that lay with her shall die alone, and unto the damsel thou shalt do no harm: because there is in the damsel no cause of death. For as when a man riseth against his neighbour and slayeth him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the fields and the betrothed damsel cried: but there was no man to succour her. If a man find a maid that is not betrothed and take her and lie with her and be found: Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty sicles of silver. And she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her, and he may not put her away all his days. No man shall take his father's wife, nor unhele his father's covering.

Chapter .xxiij.

None that is gelded or hath his privy members cut off, shall come into the congregation of the LORD. And he that is born of a common woman shall not come in the congregation of the LORD, no in the tenth generation he shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. The Ammonites and the Moabites shall not come into the congregation of the LORD, no not in the tenth generation, no they shall never come in to the congregation of the LORD, because they met you not with bread and water in the way when ye came out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor the interpreter of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balam, but turned the curse to a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt never therefore seek that which is prosperous or good for them all thy days for ever. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother: neither shalt thou abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall come into the congregation of the LORD in the third generation. When thou goest out with the host against thine enemies, keep thee from all wickedness for the LORD is among you. If there be any man that is unclean by the reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, let him go out of the host and not come in again until he have washed himself with water before the evening: and then when the son is down, let him come into the host again. Thou shalt have a place without the host whither thou shalt resort to and thou shalt have a sharp point at the end of thy weapon: and when thou wilt ease thyself, dig therewith and turn and cover that which is departed from thee. For the LORD thy God walketh in thine host, to rid thee and to set thine enemies before thee. Let thine host be pure that he see no unclean thing among you and turn from you. Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. Let him dwell with thee, even among you in what place he himself liketh best, in one of thy cities where it is good for him, and vex him not. There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor whorekeeper of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt neither bring the hire of an whore nor the price of a dog into the house of the LORD thy God, in no manner of vow: for even both of them are abomination unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt be no usurer unto thy brother, neither in money nor in food, nor in any manner thing that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayst lend upon usury, but not unto thy brother, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to conquer it. When thou hast vowed a vow unto the LORD thy God, see thou be not slack to pay it. For he will surely require it of thee, and it shall be sin unto thee. If thou shalt leave vowing, it shall be no sin unto thee: but that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou must keep and do, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God a freewill offering which thou hast spoken with thy mouth. When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayst eat grapes thy bellyful at thine own pleasure: but thou shalt put none in thy bag. When thou goest into thy neighbour's corn, thou mayst pluck the ears with thine hand, but thou mayst not move a sicle unto thy neighbour's corn.

Chapter .xxiiij.

When a man hath taken a wife and married her, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath spied some uncleanness in her: Then let him write her a bill of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house. If when she is departed out of his house, she go and be another man's wife and the second husband hate her and write her a letter of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house, or if the second man die which took her to wife; Her first man which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife, inasmuch as she is defiled. For that is abomination in the sight of the LORD: that thou defile not the land with sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit. When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go a warfare neither shall be charged with any business: but shall be free at home one year and rejoice with his wife which he hath taken. No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge, for then he taketh a man's life to pledge. If any man be found stealing any of his brethren the children of Israel, and maketh chevisance of him or selleth him, the thief shall die. And thou shalt put evil away from thee. Take heed to thyself as concerning the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently to do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach thee, as I commanded them so ye shall observe to do. Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come out of Egypt. If thou lend thy brother any manner succour, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch a pledge: but shalt stond without and the man to whom thou lendest, shall bring thee the pledge out at the door. Furthermore if it be a poor body, go not to sleep with his pledge: but deliver him the pledge again by that the son go down, and let him sleep in his own raiment and bless thee. And it shall be righteousness unto thee, before the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not defraud an hired servant that is needy and poor, whether he be of thy brethren or a stranger that is in thy land within thy cities. Give him his hire the same day, and let not the son go down thereon. For he is needy and therewith sustaineth his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD and it be sin unto thee. The fathers shall not die for the children nor the children for the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin. Hinder not the right of the stranger nor of the fatherless, nor take widow's raiment to pledge. But remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt, and how the LORD thy God delivered thee thence. Wherefore I command thee to do this thing. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again and fetch it: But it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand. When thou beatest down thine olive trees thou shalt not make clean riddance after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And when thou gatherest thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather clean after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt: wherefore I command thee to do this thing.

Chapter .xxv.