Category: Deuteronomy

Moses Receives the Commandments Again

1 “Then theLordsaid to me, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and make a wooden Box to put them in. Come up to me on the mountain,

2 and I will write on those tablets what I wrote on the tablets that you broke, and then you are to put them in the Box.’

3 “So I made a Box of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first ones and took them up the mountain.

4 Then theLordwrote on those tablets the same words that he had written the first time, the Ten Commandments that he gave you when he spoke from the fire on the day you were gathered at the mountain. TheLordgave me the tablets,

5 and I turned and went down the mountain. Then, just as theLordhad commanded, I put them in the Box that I had made—and they have been there ever since.”

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6 The Israelites set out from the wells that belonged to the people of Jaakan, and went to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.

7 From there they went to Gudgodah and then on to Jotbathah, a well-watered place.

8 At that time theLordappointed the men of the tribe of Levi to be in charge of the Covenant Box, to serve him as priests, and to pronounce blessings in his name. And these are still their duties.

9 That is why the tribe of Levi received no land as the other tribes did; what they received was the privilege of being theLord’s priests, as theLordyour God promised.)

10 “I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time. TheLordlistened to me once more and agreed not to destroy you.

11 Then he told me to go and lead you, so that you could take possession of the land that he had promised to give to your ancestors.

What God Demands

12 “Now, people of Israel, listen to what theLordyour God demands of you: Worship theLordand do all that he commands. Love him, serve him with all your heart,

13 and obey all his laws. I am giving them to you today for your benefit.

14 To theLordbelong even the highest heavens; the earth is his also, and everything on it.

15 But theLord’s love for your ancestors was so strong that he chose you instead of any other people, and you are still his chosen people.

16 So then, from now on be obedient to theLordand stop being stubborn.

17 TheLordyour God is supreme over all gods and over all powers. He is great and mighty, and he is to be obeyed. He does not show partiality, and he does not accept bribes.

18 He makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly; he loves the foreigners who live with our people, and gives them food and clothes.

19 So then, show love for those foreigners, because you were once foreigners in Egypt.

20 Have reverence for theLordyour God and worship only him. Be faithful to him and make your promises in his name alone.

21 Praise him—he is your God, and you have seen with your own eyes the great and astounding things that he has done for you.

22 When your ancestors went to Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now theLordyour God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/10-5358e25c8f95facfad80649fa435cb38.mp3?version_id=68—

The Lord’s Greatness

1 “Love theLordyour God and always obey all his laws.

2 Remember today what you have learned about theLordthrough your experiences with him. It was you, not your children, who had these experiences. You saw theLord’s greatness, his power, his might,

3 and his miracles. You saw what he did to the king of Egypt and to his entire country.

4 You saw how theLordcompletely wiped out the Egyptian army, along with their horses and chariots, by drowning them in the Red Seawhen they were pursuing you.

5 You know what theLorddid for you in the desert before you arrived here.

6 You recall what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab of the tribe of Reuben. In the sight of everyone the earth opened up and swallowed them, along with their families, their tents, and all their servants and animals.

7 Yes, you are the ones who have seen all these great things that theLordhas done.

The Blessings of the Promised Land

8 “Obey everything that I have commanded you today. Then you will be able to cross the river and occupy the land that you are about to enter.

9 And you will live a long time in the rich and fertile land that theLordpromised to give your ancestors and their descendants.

10 The land that you are about to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, where you lived before. There, when you planted grain, you had to work hard to irrigate the fields;

11 but the land that you are about to enter is a land of mountains and valleys, a land watered by rain.

12 TheLordyour God takes care of this land and watches over it throughout the year.

13 “So then, obey the commands that I have given you today; love theLordyour God and serve him with all your heart.

14 If you do, he will send rain on your land when it is needed, in the autumn and in the spring, so that there will be grain, wine, and olive oil for you,

15 and grass for your livestock. You will have all the food you want.

16 Do not let yourselves be led away from theLordto worship and serve other gods.

17 If you do, theLordwill become angry with you. He will hold back the rain, and your ground will become too dry for crops to grow. Then you will soon die there, even though it is a good land that he is giving you.

18 “Remember these commands and cherish them. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder.

19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.

20 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

21 Then you and your children will live a long time in the land that theLordyour God promised to give to your ancestors. You will live there as long as there is a sky above the earth.

22 “Obey faithfully everything that I have commanded you: Love theLordyour God, do everything he commands, and be faithful to him.

23 Then he will drive out all those nations as you advance, and you will occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you.

24 All the ground that you march over will be yours. Your territory will extend from the desert in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

25 Wherever you go in that land, theLordyour God will make the people fear you, as he has promised, and no one will be able to stop you.

26 “Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse—

27 a blessing, if you obey the commands of theLordyour God that I am giving you today;

28 but a curse, if you disobey these commands and turn away to worship other gods that you have never worshiped before.

29 When theLordbrings you into the land that you are going to occupy, you are to proclaim the blessing from Mount Gerizim and the curse from Mount Ebal. (

30 These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the territory of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley. They are toward the west, not far from the sacred trees of Moreh near the town of Gilgal.)

31 You are about to cross the Jordan River and occupy the land that theLordyour God is giving you. When you take it and settle there,

32 be sure to obey all the laws that I am giving you today.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/11-56cffcda65c0aebcfcced9afa9ba8553.mp3?version_id=68—

The One Place for Worship

1 “Here are the laws that you are to obey as long as you live in the land that theLord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Listen to them!

2 In the land that you are taking, destroy all the places where the people worship their gods on high mountains, on hills, and under green trees.

3 Tear down their altars and smash their sacred stone pillars to pieces. Burn their symbols of the goddess Asherah and chop down their idols, so that they will never again be worshiped at those places.

4 “Do not worship theLordyour God in the way that these people worship their gods.

5 Out of the territory of all your tribes theLordwill choose the one place where the people are to come into his presence and worship him.

6 There you are to offer your sacrifices that are to be burned and your other sacrifices, your tithes and your offerings, the gifts that you promise to theLord, your freewill offerings, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep.

7 There, in the presence of theLordyour God, who has blessed you, you and your families will eat and enjoy the good things that you have worked for.

8 “When that time comes, you must not do as you have been doing. Until now you have all been worshiping as you please,

9 because you have not yet entered the land that theLordyour God is giving you, where you can live in peace.

10 When you cross the Jordan River, theLordwill let you occupy the land and live there. He will keep you safe from all your enemies, and you will live in peace.

11 TheLordwill choose a single place where he is to be worshiped, and there you must bring to him everything that I have commanded: your sacrifices that are to be burned and your other sacrifices, your tithes and your offerings, and those special gifts that you have promised to theLord.

12 Be joyful there in his presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns; remember that the Levites will have no land of their own.

13 You are not to offer your sacrifices wherever you choose;

14 you must offer them only in the one place that theLordwill choose in the territory of one of your tribes. Only there are you to offer your sacrifices that are to be burned and do all the other things that I have commanded you.

15 “But you are free to kill and eat your animals wherever you live. You may eat as many as theLordgives you. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you would eat the meat of deer or antelope.

16 But you must not eat their blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.

17 Nothing that you offer to theLordis to be eaten in the places where you live: neither the tithes of your grain, your wine, or your olive oil, nor the first-born of your cattle and sheep, the gifts that you promise to theLord, your freewill offerings, or any other offerings.

18 You and your children, together with your servants and the Levites who live in your towns, are to eat these offerings only in the presence of theLordyour God, in the one place of worship chosen by theLordyour God. And you are to be happy there over everything that you have done.

19 Be sure, also, not to neglect the Levites, as long as you live in your land.

20 “When theLordyour God enlarges your territory, as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want to.

21 If the one place of worship is too far away, then, whenever you wish, you may kill any of the cattle or sheep that theLordhas given you, and you may eat the meat at home, as I have told you.

22 Anyone, ritually clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as he would eat the meat of deer or antelope.

23 Only do not eat meat with blood still in it, for the life is in the blood, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

24 Do not use the blood for food; instead, pour it out on the ground like water.

25 If you obey this command, theLordwill be pleased, and all will go well for you and your descendants.

26 Take to the one place of worship your offerings and the gifts that you have promised theLord.

27 Offer there the sacrifices which are to be completely burned on theLord’s altar. Also offer those sacrifices in which you eat the meat and pour the blood out on the altar.

28 Obey faithfully everything that I have commanded you, and all will go well for you and your descendants forever, because you will be doing what is right and what pleases theLordyour God.

Warning against Idolatry

29 “TheLordyour God will destroy the nations as you invade their land, and you will occupy it and settle there.

30 After theLorddestroys those nations, make sure that you don’t follow their religious practices, because that would be fatal. Don’t try to find out how they worship their gods, so that you can worship in the same way.

31 Do not worship theLordyour God in the way they worship their gods, for in the worship of their gods they do all the disgusting things that theLordhates. They even sacrifice their children in the fires on their altars.

32 “Do everything that I have commanded you; do not add anything to it or take anything from it.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/12-219345a1701ebad4ec81d18d02d8b2f9.mp3?version_id=68—

1 “Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder,

2 in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshiped before. Even if what they promise comes true,

3 do not pay any attention to them. TheLordyour God is using them to test you, to see if you love theLordwith all your heart.

4 Follow theLordand honor him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him.

5 But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against theLord, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that theLordhas commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil.

6 “Even your brother or your son or your daughter or the wife you love or your closest friend may secretly encourage you to worship other gods, gods that you and your ancestors have never worshiped.

7 Some of them may encourage you to worship the gods of the people who live near you or the gods of those who live far away.

8 But do not let any of them persuade you; do not even listen to them. Show them no mercy or pity, and do not protect them.

9 Kill them! Be the first to stone them, and then let everyone else stone them too.

10 Stone them to death! They tried to lead you away from theLordyour God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

11 Then all the people of Israel will hear what happened; they will be afraid, and no one will ever again do such an evil thing.

12 “When you are living in the towns that theLordyour God gives you, you may hear

13 that some worthless people of your nation have misled the people of their town to worship gods that you have never worshiped before.

14 If you hear such a rumor, investigate it thoroughly; and if it is true that this evil thing did happen,

15 then kill all the people in that town and all their livestock too. Destroy that town completely.

16 Bring together all the possessions of the people who live there and pile them up in the town square. Then burn the town and everything in it as an offering to theLordyour God. It must be left in ruins forever and never again be rebuilt.

17 Do not keep for yourselves anything that was condemned to destruction, and then theLordwill turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will be merciful to you and make you a numerous people, as he promised your ancestors,

18 if you obey all his commands that I have given you today, and do what he requires.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/13-c70a5de8d3c4265adb97efd189113e61.mp3?version_id=68—

A Forbidden Mourning Practice

1 “You are the people of theLordyour God. So when you mourn for the dead, don’t gash yourselves or shave the front of your head, as other people do.

2 You belong to theLordyour God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.

Clean and Unclean Animals

3 “Do not eat anything that theLordhas declared unclean.

4 You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats,

5 deer, wild sheep, wild goats, or antelopes—

6 any animals that have divided hoofs and that also chew the cud.

7 But no animals may be eaten unless they have divided hoofs and also chew the cud. You may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. They must be considered unclean; they chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs.

8 Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs but do not chew the cud. Do not eat any of these animals or even touch their dead bodies.

9 “You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales,

10 but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales may not be eaten; it must be considered unclean.

11 “You may eat any clean bird.

12-18 But these are the kinds of birds you are not to eat: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants;hoopoes; and bats.

19 “All winged insects are unclean; do not eat them.

20 You may eat any clean insect.

21 “Do not eat any animal that dies a natural death. You may let the foreigners who live among you eat it, or you may sell it to other foreigners. But you belong to theLordyour God; you are his people.

“Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk.

The Law of the Tithe

22 “Set aside a tithe—a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.

23 Then go to the one place where theLordyour God has chosen to be worshiped; and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Do this so that you may learn to honor theLordyour God always.

24 If the place of worship is too far from your home for you to carry there the tithe of the produce that theLordhas blessed you with, then do this:

25 Sell your produce and take the money with you to the one place of worship.

26 Spend it on whatever you want—beef, lamb, wine, beer—and there, in the presence of theLordyour God, you and your families are to eat and enjoy yourselves.

27 “Do not neglect the Levites who live in your towns; they have no property of their own.

28 At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in your towns.

29 This food is for the Levites, since they own no property, and for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and theLordyour God will bless you in everything you do.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/14-0c9bbf636a9bcf1af9621ea0841d0ba6.mp3?version_id=68—

The Seventh Year

1 “At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money.

2 This is how it is to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt; you must not try to collect the money; theLordhimself has declared the debt canceled.

3 You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.

4 “TheLordyour God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor

5 if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today.

6 TheLordwill bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.

7 “If in any of the towns in the land that theLordyour God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them.

8 Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need.

9 Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to theLordagainst you, and you will be held guilty.

10 Give to them freely and unselfishly, and theLordwill bless you in everything you do.

11 There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

The Treatment of Slaves

12 “If any Israelites, male or female, sell themselvesto you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free.

13 When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.

14 Give to them generously from what theLordhas blessed you with—sheep, grain, and wine.

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and theLordyour God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.

16 “But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay.

17 Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way.

18 Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants.Do this, and theLordyour God will bless you in all that you do.

The First-Born Cattle and Sheep

19 “Set aside for theLordyour God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don’t use any of these cattle for work and don’t shear any of these sheep.

20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in theLord’s presence at the one place of worship.

21 But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to theLordyour God.

22 You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope.

23 But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/15-401aa6a2af6ce309422e5bdcb7d52771.mp3?version_id=68—

The Passover

1 “Honor theLordyour God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt.

2 Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor theLordyour God.

3 When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread—it will be called the bread of suffering—so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

4 For seven days no one in your land is to have any yeast in the house; and the meat of the animal killed on the evening of the first day must be eaten that same night.

5-6 “Slaughter the Passover animals at the one place of worship—and nowhere else in the land that theLordyour God will give you. Do it at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt.

7 Boil the meat and eat it at the one place of worship; and the next morning return home.

8 For the next six days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, and on the seventh day assemble to worship theLordyour God, and do no work on that day.

The Harvest Festival

9 “Count seven weeks from the time that you begin to harvest the grain,

10 and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor theLordyour God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you.

11 Be joyful in theLord’s presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. Do this at the one place of worship.

12 Be sure that you obey these commands; do not forget that you were slaves in Egypt.

The Festival of Shelters

13 “After you have threshed all your grain and pressed all your grapes, celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days.

14 Enjoy it with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns.

15 Honor theLordyour God by celebrating this festival for seven days at the one place of worship. Be joyful, because theLordhas blessed your harvest and your work.

16 “All the men of your nation are to come to worship theLordthree times a year at the one place of worship: at Passover, Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. Each man is to bring a gift

17 as he is able, in proportion to the blessings that theLordyour God has given him.

The Administration of Justice

18 “Appoint judges and other officials in every town that theLordyour God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially.

19 They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgments; and they are not to accept bribes, for gifts blind the eyes even of wise and honest men, and cause them to give wrong decisions.

20 Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that theLordyour God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there.

21 “When you make an altar for theLordyour God, do not put beside it a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah.

22 And do not set up any stone pillar for idol worship; theLordhates them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/16-102addeee92af9b6d23a20b2ae03fab6.mp3?version_id=68—

1 “Do not sacrifice to theLordyour God cattle or sheep that have any defects; theLordhates this.

2 “Suppose you hear that in one of your towns some men or women have sinned against theLordand broken his covenant

3 by worshiping and serving other gods or the sun or the moon or the stars, contrary to theLord’s command.

4 If you hear such a report, then investigate it thoroughly. If it is true that this evil thing has happened in Israel,

5 then take them outside the town and stone them to death.

6 However, they may be put to death only if two or more witnesses testify against them; they are not to be put to death if there is only one witness.

7 The witnesses are to throw the first stones, and then the rest of the people are to stone them; in this way you will get rid of this evil.

8 “It may be that some cases will be too difficult for the local judges to decide, such as certain cases of property rights or of bodily injury or those cases that involve a distinction between murder and manslaughter. When this happens, go to the one place of worship chosen by theLordyour God,

9 and present your case to the levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time, and let them decide the case.

10 They will give their decision, and you are to do exactly as they tell you.

11 Accept their verdict and follow their instructions in every detail.

12 Anyone who dares to disobey either the judge or the priest on duty is to be put to death; in this way you will remove this evil from Israel.

13 Then everyone will hear of it and be afraid, and no one else will dare to act in such a way.

Instructions concerning a King

14 “After you have taken possession of the land that theLordyour God is going to give you and have settled there, then you will decide you need a king like all the nations around you.

15 Be sure that the man you choose to be king is the one whom theLordhas chosen. He must be one of your own people; do not make a foreigner your king.

16 The king is not to have a large number of horses for his army, and he is not to send people to Egypt to buy horses,because theLordhas said that his people are never to return there.

17 The king is not to have many wives, because this would make him turn away from theLord; and he is not to make himself rich with silver and gold.

18 When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God’s laws and teachings made from the original copy kept by the levitical priests.

19 He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honor theLordand to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it.

20 This will keep him from thinking that he is better than other Israelites and from disobeying theLord’s commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/17-30b4576f30efc0369082a9b6229441a2.mp3?version_id=68—

The Share of the Priests

1 “The priestly tribe of Levi is not to receive any share of land in Israel; instead, they are to live on the offerings and other sacrifices given to theLord.

2 They are to own no land, as the other tribes do; their share is the privilege of being theLord’s priests, as theLordhas promised.

3 “Whenever cattle or sheep are sacrificed, the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jaw, and the stomach.

4 They are to receive the first share of the grain, wine, olive oil, and wool.

5 TheLordchose from all your tribes the tribe of Levi to serve him as priests forever.

6 “Any Levite who wants to may come from any town in Israel to the one place of worship

7 and may serve there as a priest of theLordhis God, like the other Levites who are serving there.

8 He is to receive the same amount of food as the other priests, and he may keep whatever his family sends him.

Warning against Pagan Practices

9 “When you come into the land that theLordyour God is giving you, don’t follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there.

10 Don’t sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars; and don’t let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells

11 or charms, and don’t let them consult the spirits of the dead.

12 TheLordyour God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance.

13 Be completely faithful to theLord.”

The Promise to Send a Prophet

14 Then Moses said, “In the land you are about to occupy, people follow the advice of those who practice divination and look for omens, but theLordyour God does not allow you to do this.

15 Instead, he will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.

16 “On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear theLordspeak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die.

17 So theLordsaid to me, ‘They have made a wise request.

18 I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and hewill tell the people everything I command.

19 He will speak in my name, and Iwill punish anyone who refuses to obey him.

20 But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.’

21 “You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet’s message does not come from theLord.

22 If a prophet speaks in the name of theLordand what he says does not come true, then it is not theLord’s message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/18-056f84c66f0125be549bfb8f82f65699.mp3?version_id=68—

The Cities of Refuge

1 “After theLordyour God has destroyed the people whose land he is giving you and after you have taken their cities and houses and settled there,

2-3 divide the territory into three parts, each with a city that can be easily reached. Then any of you that kill will be able to escape to one of them for protection.

4 If you accidentally kill someone who is not your enemy, you may escape to any of these cities and be safe.

5 For example, if two of you go into the forest together to cut wood and if, as one of you is chopping down a tree, the ax head comes off the handle and kills the other, you can run to one of those three cities and be safe.

6 If there were only one city, the distance to it might be too great, and the relative who is responsible for taking revenge for the killing might catch you and angrily kill an innocent person. After all, it was by accident that you killed someone who was not your enemy.

7 This is why I order you to set aside three cities.

8 “When theLordyour God enlarges your territory, as he told your ancestors he would, and gives you all the land he has promised,

9 then you are to select three more cities. (He will give you this land if you do everything that I command you today and if you love theLordyour God and live according to his teachings.)

10 Do this, so that innocent people will not die and so that you will not be guilty of putting them to death in the land that theLordis giving you.

11 “But suppose you deliberately murder your enemy in cold blood and then escape to one of those cities for protection.

12 In that case, the leaders of your own town are to send for you and hand you over to the relative responsible for taking revenge for the murder, so that you may be put to death.

13 No mercy will be shown to you. Israel must rid itself of murderers, so that all will go well.

Ancient Property Lines

14 “Do not move your neighbor’s property line, established long ago in the land that theLordyour God is giving you.

Concerning Witnesses

15 “One witness is not enough to convict someone of a crime; at least two witnesses are necessary to prove that someone is guilty.

16 If any of you try to harm another by false accusations,

17 both of you are to go to the one place of worship and be judged by the priests and judges who are then in office.

18 The judges will investigate the case thoroughly; and if you have made a false accusation,

19 you are to receive the punishment the accused would have received. In this way your nation will get rid of this evil.

20 Then everyone else will hear what happened; they will be afraid, and no one will ever again do such an evil thing.

21 In such cases show no mercy; the punishment is to be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/19-c459531eafc5b4f017454bbac2df3362.mp3?version_id=68—