Holman Christian Standard Bible (61 page)

Deuteronomy

Cities of Refuge

19
“When the
Lord
your God annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses,
2
 you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the
Lord
your God is giving you to possess. 
3
 You are to determine the distances and divide the land the
Lord
your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities. 

4
 “Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him:
5
 If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live.
6
 Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die, since he did not previously hate his neighbor.
7
 This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves.
8
 If the
Lord
your God enlarges your territory as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised to give them —
9
 provided you keep every one of these commands I am giving you today and follow them, loving the
Lord
your God and walking in His ways at all times — you are to add three more cities to these three.
10
 In this way, innocent blood will not be shed, and you will not become
•guilty
of bloodshed in the land the
Lord
your God is giving you as an inheritance. 
11
 But if someone hates his neighbor, lies in ambush for him, attacks him, and strikes him fatally, and flees to one of these cities,
12
 the elders of his city must send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die.
13
 You must not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper.

Boundary Markers

14
 “You must not move your neighbor's boundary marker, established at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the
Lord
your God is giving you to possess.

Witnesses in Court

15
 “One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 

16
 “If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime,
17
 the two people in the dispute must stand in the presence of the
Lord
before the priests and judges in authority at that time.
18
 The judges are to make a careful investigation, and if the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,
19
 you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from you.
20
 Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you. 
21
 You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot. 

Deuteronomy

Rules for War

20
“When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the
Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
2
 When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army.
3
 He is to say to them: ‘Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them.
4
 For the
Lord
your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.'

5
 “The officers are to address the army, ‘Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.
6
 Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit. 
7
 Has any man become
•engaged
to a woman and not married her? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man marry her.'
8
 The officers will continue to address the army and say, ‘Is there any man who is afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers' hearts won't melt like his own.'
9
 When the officers have finished addressing the army, they will appoint military commanders to lead it.

10
 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace.
11
 If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you.
12
 However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it.
13
 When the
Lord
your God hands it over to you, you must strike down all its males with the sword.
14
 But you may take the women, children, animals, and whatever else is in the city — all its spoil — as plunder. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that the
Lord
your God has given you.
15
 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and are not among the cities of these nations.
16
 However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the
Lord
your God is giving you as an inheritance.
17
 You must
•completely
destroy them — the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite — as the
Lord
your God has commanded you,
18
 so that they won't teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and you sin against the
Lord
your God. 

19
 “When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can get food from them. You must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human, to come under siege by you?
20
 But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce food. You may cut them down to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.

Deuteronomy

Unsolved Murders

21
“If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the
Lord
your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
2
 your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities.
3
 The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work.
4
 The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream.
5
 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for
•Yahweh
your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.
6
 All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken.
7
 They will declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it.
8
 
Lord
, forgive Your people Israel You redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.' Then they will be absolved of responsibility for bloodshed.
9
 You must purge from yourselves the
•guilt
of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the
Lord
's sight.

Fair Treatment of Captured Women

10
 “When you go to war against your enemies and the
Lord
your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and
11
 if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife,
12
 you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,
13
 remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.
14
 Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.

The Right of the Firstborn

15
 “If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son,
16
 when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the unloved wife.
17
 He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him two shares of his estate, for he is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn. 

A Rebellious Son

18
 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him,
19
 his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the
•gate
 of his hometown.
20
 They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.'
21
 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

Display of Executed People

22
 “If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
23
 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the
Lord
your God is giving you as an inheritance. 

Deuteronomy

Caring for Your Brother's Property

22
“If you see your brother's ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; make sure you return it to your brother.
2
 If your brother does not live near you or you don't know him, you are to bring the animal to your home to remain with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you can return it to him.
3
 Do the same for his donkey, his garment, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it. 
4
 If you see your brother's donkey or ox fallen down on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.

Preserving Natural Distinctions

5
 “A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman's garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the
Lord
your God.

6
 “If you come across a bird's nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.
7
 You may take the young for yourself, but be sure to let the mother go free, so that you may prosper and live long.
8
 If you build a new house, make a railing around your roof, so that you don't bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.
9
 Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; otherwise, the entire harvest, both the crop you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled.
10
 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11
 Do not wear clothes made of both wool and linen. 
12
 Make tassels on the four corners of the outer garment you wear. 

Violations of Proper Sexual Conduct

13
 “If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and comes to hate her,
14
 and accuses her of shameful conduct, and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman and was intimate with her, but I didn't find any evidence of her virginity,'
15
 the young woman's father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the
•gate
. 
16
 The young woman's father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her.
17
 He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying: “I didn't find any evidence of your daughter's virginity,” but here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.' They will spread out the cloth before the city elders.
18
 Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him. 
19
 They will also fine him 100 silver shekels and give them to the young woman's father, because that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives.
20
 But if this accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman's virginity is found,
21
 they will bring the woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father's house. You must purge the evil from you.