Month: February 2020

Remember the Lord

1 “You must carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the landtheLordswore to your fathers.

2 Remember that theLordyour God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

3 He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of theLord.

4 Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years.

5 Keep in mind that theLordyour God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

6 So keep the commands of theLordyour God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.

7 For theLordyour God is bringing you into a good land,a land with streams of water, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

10 When you eat and are full,you will praise theLordyour God for the good landHe has given you.

11 “Be careful that you don’t forget theLordyour God by failing to keep His command — the ordinances and statutes — I am giving you today.

12 When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

13 and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

14 be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget theLordyour God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

15 He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonoussnakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint-like rock for you.

16 He fed you in the wilderness with mannathat your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’

18 but remember that theLordyour God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant He swore to your fathers,as it is today.

19 If you ever forget theLordyour God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will perish.

20 Like the nations theLordis about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey theLordyour God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/8-11a88eee1d3738ca54715e0e34d1ce96.mp3?version_id=72—

Warning against Self-Righteousness

1 “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go and drive out nations greater and stronger than you,with large cities fortified to the heavens.

2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim.You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak? ’

3 But understand that today theLordyour God will cross over ahead of youas a consuming fire;He will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly,as theLordhas told you.

4 When theLordyour God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘TheLordbrought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’Instead, theLordwill drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, theLordyour God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Understand that theLordyour God is not giving you this good landto possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Israel’s Rebellion and Moses’ Intercession

7 “Rememberand do not forget how you provoked theLordyour God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against theLordfrom the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

8 You provoked theLordat Horeb, and He was angry enough with you to destroy you.

9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenanttheLordmade with you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water.

10 On the day of the assembly theLordgave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger.The exact words were on them, which theLordspoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

11 TheLordgave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights.

12 “TheLordsaid to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.’

13 TheLordalso said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

14 Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven.Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’

15 “So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

16 I saw how you had sinned against theLordyour God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way theLordhad commanded for you.

17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down like the first time in the presence of theLordfor 40 days and 40 nights; I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in theLord’s sight and provoking Him to anger.

19 I was afraid of the fierce anger theLordhad directed against you,because He was about to destroy you. But again theLordlistened to me on that occasion.

20 TheLordwas angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also.

21 I took the sinful calf you had made, burned it up, and crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust. Then I threw it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

22 “You continued to provoke theLordat Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

23 When theLordsent you from Kadesh-barnea, He said, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you’; you rebelled against the command of theLordyour God. You did not believe or obey Him.

24 You have been rebelling against theLordever since I haveknown you.

25 “I fell down in the presence of theLord40 days and 40 nights because theLordhad threatened to destroy you.

26 I prayed to theLord:

LordGod, do not annihilate Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemedthrough Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.

28 Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because theLordwasn’t able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

29 But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/9-126b129ae0b235a1da9f479ac30e088a.mp3?version_id=72—

The Covenant Renewed

1 “TheLordsaid to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.

2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’

3 So I made an ark of acacia wood,cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

4 Then on the day of the assembly, theLordwrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. TheLordgave them to me,

5 and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as theLordcommanded me.”

6 The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakanto Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.

7 They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.

8 “At that time theLordset apart the tribe of Levito carry the ark of theLord’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today.

9 For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; theLordis his inheritance, as theLordyour God told him.

10 “I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. TheLordalso listened to me on this occasion;He agreed not to annihilate you.

11 Then theLordsaid to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’

What God Requires

12 “And now, Israel, what does theLordyour God ask of you except to feartheLordyour God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship theLordyour God with all your heart and all your soul?

13 Keep theLord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

14 The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to theLordyour God, as does the earth and everything in it.

15 Yet theLordwas devoted to your fathers and loved them.He chose their descendants after them — He chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

16 Therefore, circumcise your heartsand don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

17 For theLordyour God is the God of godsand Lord of lords,the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

19 You also must love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20 You are to fear Yahweh your God and worship Him. Remain faithfulto Him and take oaths in His name.

21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome works your eyes have seen.

22 Your fathers went down to Egypt, 70 people in all,and now theLordyour God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/10-c32ee91910f49b8e5c6ecf9349b48a04.mp3?version_id=72—

Remember and Obey

1 “Therefore, love theLordyour God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.

2 You must understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of theLordyour God:

His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;

3 His signs and the works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;

4 what He did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and He destroyed themcompletely;

5 what He did to you in the wilderness until you reached this place;

6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite camp the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.

7 Your own eyes have seenevery great work theLordhas done.

8 “Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

9 and so that you may live longin the land theLordswore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by handas in a vegetable garden.

11 But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky.

12 It is a land theLordyour God cares for. He is always watching over itfrom the beginning to the end of the year.

13 “If you carefully obey my commands I am giving you today, to love theLordyour God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul,

14 Iwill provide rain for your land in the proper time, the autumn and spring rains,and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and oil.

15 Iwill provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied.

16 Be carefulthat you are not enticed to turn aside, worship, and bow down to other gods.

17 Then theLord’s anger will burn against you.He will close the sky, and there will be no rain;the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good landtheLordis giving you.

18 “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbolon your foreheads.

19 Teach them to your children,talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land theLordswore to give your fathers.

22 For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow — to love theLordyour God, walk in all His ways, and remain faithfulto Him —

23 theLordwill drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.

24 Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours.Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates Riverto the Mediterranean Sea.

25 No one will be able to stand against you; theLordyour God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as He has promised you.

A Blessing and a Curse

26 “Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:

27 there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of theLordyour God I am giving you today,

28 and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of theLordyour God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.

29 When theLordyour God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

30 Aren’t these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaksof Moreh?

31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land theLordyour God is giving you. When you possess it and settle in it,

32 be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances I set before you today.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/11-e5374bbdf9924c4379016e07bc064641.mp3?version_id=72—

The Chosen Place of Worship

1 “Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers,has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth.

2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods— on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from everyplace.

4 Don’t worship theLordyour God this way.

5 Instead, you must turn to the place Yahweh your God choosesfrom all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling and go there.

6 You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions,your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

7 You will eat there in the presence of theLordyour God and rejoice with your household in everything you do,because theLordyour God has blessed you.

8 “You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own eyes.

9 Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting placeand the inheritancetheLordyour God is giving you.

10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land theLordyour God is giving you to inherit,and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security,

11 then Yahweh your God will choose the place to have His name dwell.Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions,and all your choice offerings you vow to theLord.

12 You will rejoicebefore theLordyour God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see.

14 You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place theLordchooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.

Slaughtering Animals to Eat

15 “But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates,according to the blessing theLordyour God has given you. Those who are clean or unclean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer,

16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

17 Within your gates you may not eat: the tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions.

18 You must eat them in the presence of theLordyour God at the place theLordyour God chooses — you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. Rejoice before theLordyour God in everything you do,

19 and be careful not to neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land.

20 “When theLordyour God enlarges your territory as He has promised you,and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want.

21 If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.

22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it.

23 But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

24 Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water.

25 Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in theLord’s sight.

26 “But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place theLordchooses.

27 Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of theLordyour God. The blood of your other sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of theLordyour God, but you may eat the meat.

28 Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of theLordyour God.

29 “When theLordyour God annihilates the nations before you,which you are entering to take possession of,and you drive them out and live in their land,

30 be careful not to be ensnared by their waysafter they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’

31 You must not do the same to theLordyour God, because they practice every detestable thing, which theLordhates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 You must be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/12-20677c0cae8b3cce7cbb2e156b11bda9.mp3?version_id=72—

The False Prophet

1 “If a prophet or someone who has dreamsarises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

2 and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’

3 do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For theLordyour God is testing you to know whether you love theLordyour God with all your heart and all your soul.

4 You must follow theLordyour God and fear Him. You must keep His commands and listen to His voice; you must worship Him and remain faithfulto Him.

5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death,because he has urged rebellion against theLordyour God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the place of slavery,to turn you from the way theLordyour God has commanded you to walk. You must purge the evil from you.

Don’t Tolerate Idolatry

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother,or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ — which neither you nor your fathers have known,

7 any of the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other —

8 you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity,and do not spare him or shield him.

9 Instead, you must kill him. Your hand is to be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

10 Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from theLordyour God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

11 All Israel will hear and be afraid, and they will no longer do anything evil like this among you.

12 “If you hear it said about one of your cities theLordyour God is giving you to live in,

13 that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, ‘Let us go and worship other gods,’ which you have not known,

14 you are to inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened among you,

15 you must strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Completely destroy everyone in it as well as its livestock with the sword.

16 You are to gather all its spoil in the middle of the city square and completely burn up the city and all its spoil for theLordyour God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever;it is not to be rebuilt.

17 Nothing set apart for destruction is to remain in your hand, so that theLordwill turn from His burning anger and grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers.

18 This will occur if you obey theLordyour God, keeping all His commands I am giving you today, doing what is right in the sight of theLordyour God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/13-6eb4bc3c3f8e92e10f588c2fb15aed17.mp3?version_id=72—

Forbidden Practices

1 “You are sons of theLordyour God;do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your headon behalf of the dead,

2 for you are a holy people belonging to theLordyour God. TheLordhas chosen you to be His own possessionout of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Foods

3 “You must not eat any detestable thing.

4 These are the animals you may eat:

the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer,

the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope,

and the mountain sheep.

6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided in two and chews the cud.

7 But among the ones that chew the cud or have divided hooves, you are not to eat these:

the camel, the hare, and the hyrax,

though they chew the cud, they do not have hooves —

they are unclean for you;

8 and the pig, though it has hooves, it does not chew the cud —

it is unclean for you.

You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

9 “You may eat everything from the water that has fins and scales,

10 but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales — it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat every clean bird,

12 but these are the ones you may not eat:

the eagle, the bearded vulture,

the black vulture,

13 the kite,

any kind of falcon,

14 every kind of raven,

15 the ostrich,

the short-eared owl, the gull,

any kind of hawk,

16 the little owl, the long-eared owl,

the white owl,

17 the desert owl,

the osprey, the cormorant,

18 the stork,

any kind of heron,

the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 All winged insects are unclean for you; they may not be eaten.

20 But you may eat every clean flying creature.

21 “You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to a temporary resident living within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to theLordyour God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

A Tenth for the Lord

22 “Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields.

23 You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of Yahweh your God at the place where He chooses to have His name dwell,so that you will always learn to feartheLordyour God.

24 But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, since the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far away from you and since theLordyour God has blessed you,

25 then exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place theLordyour God chooses.

26 You may spend the money on anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or anything you desire. You are to feast there in the presence of theLordyour God and rejoice with your family.

27 Do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

28 “At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your gates.

29 Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come, eat, and be satisfied.And theLordyour God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/14-debc0fe83abbe16d934dad1209c181f2.mp3?version_id=72—

Debts Canceled

1 “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

2 This is how to cancel debt: Every creditoris to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because theLord’s release of debts has been proclaimed.

3 You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.

4 “There will be no poor among you, however, because theLordis certain to bless you in the land theLordyour God is giving you to possess as an inheritance—

5 if only you obey theLordyour God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today.

6 When theLordyour God blesses you as He has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

Lending to the Poor

7 “If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land theLordyour God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

8 Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has.

9 Be careful that there isn’t this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,’ and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to theLordagainst you, and you will be guilty.

10 Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heartwhen you give, and because of this theLordyour God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

11 For there will never cease to be poor people in the land;that is why I am commanding you, ‘You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.’

Release of Slaves

12 “If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.

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

14 Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever theLordyour God has blessed you with.

15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and theLordyour God redeemedyou; that is why I am giving you this command today.

16 But if your slave says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you,

17 take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way.

18 Do not regard it as a hardshipwhen you set him free, because he worked for you six years — worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then theLordyour God will bless you in everything you do.

Consecration of Firstborn Animals

19 “You must consecrate to theLordyour God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock.You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 Each year you and your family are to eat it before theLordyour God in the place theLordchooses.

21 But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to theLordyour God.

22 Eat it within your gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer.

23 But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/15-b4ce51991028ba5209f174197a59e6c8.mp3?version_id=72—

The Festival of Passover

1 “Observe the month of Abiband celebrate the Passover to theLordyour God, because theLordyour God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib.

2 Sacrifice to Yahweh your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where theLordchooses to have His name dwell.

3 You must not eat leavened bread with it.For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of hardship — because you left the land of Egypt in a hurry— so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

4 No yeast is to be found anywhere in your territory for seven days,and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day is to remain until morning.

5 You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns theLordyour God is giving you.

6 You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where Yahweh your God chooses to have His name dwell. Do this in the evening as the sun sets at the same time of day you departed from Egypt.

7 You are to cook and eat it in the place theLordyour God chooses, and you are to return to your tents in the morning.

8 You must eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to theLordyour God, and you must not do any work.

The Festival of Weeks

9 “You are to count seven weeks, counting the weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

10 You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeksto theLordyour God with a freewill offeringthat you give in proportion to how theLordyour God has blessed you.

11 Rejoicebefore Yahweh your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell — you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you.

12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; carefully follow these statutes.

The Festival of Booths

13 “You are to celebrate the Festival of Boothsfor seven days when you have gathered in everything from your threshing floor and winepress.

14 Rejoice during your festival — you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, as well as the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates.

15 You are to hold a seven-day festival for theLordyour God in the place He chooses, because theLordyour God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands,and you will have abundant joy.

16 “All your males are to appear three times a yearbefore theLordyour God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before theLordempty-handed.

17 Everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing theLordyour God has given you.

Appointing Judges and Officials

18 “Appoint judges and officials for your tribes in all your towns theLordyour God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

19 Do not deny justice or show partiality to anyone. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

20 Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land theLordyour God is giving you.

Forbidden Worship

21 “Do not set up an Asherah of any kind of wood next to the altar you will build for theLordyour God,

22 and do not set up a sacred pillar; theLordyour God hates them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/16-cb6d7cc067725e44e90e79bacfba368e.mp3?version_id=72—

1 “You must not sacrifice to theLordyour God an ox or sheep with a defect or any serious flaw, for that is detestable to theLordyour God.

The Judicial Procedure for Idolatry

2 “If a man or woman among you in one of your towns that theLordyour God will give you is discovered doing evil in the sight of theLordyour God and violating His covenant

3 and has gone to worship other godsby bowing down to the sun, moon, or all the stars in the sky— which I have forbidden—

4 and if you are told or hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened in Israel,

5 you must bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing and stone them to death.

6 The one condemned to die is to be executed on the testimony of two or three witnesses.No one is to be executed on the testimony of a single witness.

7 The witnesses’ hands are to be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people.You must purge the evil from you.

Difficult Cases

8 “If a case is too difficult for you — concerning bloodshed,lawsuits,or assaults— cases disputed at your gates,you must go up to the place theLordyour God chooses.

9 You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

10 You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place theLordchooses. Be careful to do exactly as they instruct you.

11 You must abide by the instruction they give you and the verdict they announce to you. Do not turn to the right or the left from the decision they declare to you.

12 The person who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there serving theLordyour God or to the judge, must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

13 Then all the people will hear about it, be afraid, and no longer behave arrogantly.

Appointing a King

14 “When you enter the land theLordyour God is giving you,take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’

15 you are to appoint over you the king theLordyour God chooses.Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people.

16 However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for theLordhas told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’

17 He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray.He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself.

18 When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to feartheLordhis God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.

20 Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue ruling many yearsover Israel.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/DEU/17-946fc345d4db75b0ebbdaedffd7538ce.mp3?version_id=72—