The Gospel of Mark (Part Six)

The Story of the Bible

Thanksgiving Overflow! - Ten Days of Bounty in Worship & Gratitude

Know Your Role

Faith Conversations

Overcoming Procrastination

Inherit Your Freedom

[Be a Gentleman] Identity

Embraced by Love

Christmas - That We Might Have Life

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

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 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="DEU.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">Love and Obey the Lord</div><div class="p"> 1Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. 2Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; 4what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea#11:4 Or the Sea of Reeds as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. 5It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, 6and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.</div><div class="p"> 8Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 9and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.</div><div class="p"> 13So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today&#8212;to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul&#8212; 14then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.</div><div class="p"> 16Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17Then the Lord&#8217;s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.</div><div class="p"> 22If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow&#8212;to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him&#8212; 23then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.</div><div class="p"> 26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse&#8212; 27the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; 28the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. 29When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. 30As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. 31You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, 32be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.</div>
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 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="DEU.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">The One Place of Worship</div><div class="p"> 1These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess&#8212;as long as you live in the land. 2Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.</div><div class="p"> 4You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.</div><div class="p"> 8You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name&#8212;there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. 12And there rejoice before the Lord your God&#8212;you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. 13Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. 14Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.</div><div class="p"> 15Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the Lord your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. 16But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. 17You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. 18Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose&#8212;you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns&#8212;and you are to rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to. 19Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.</div><div class="p"> 20When the Lord your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, &#8220;I would like some meat,&#8221; then you may eat as much of it as you want. 21If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. 22Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. 23But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. 25Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 26But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the Lord will choose. 27Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. 28Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.</div><div class="p"> 29The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, 30and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, &#8220;How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.&#8221; 31You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.</div><div class="p"> 32See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.#12:32 In Hebrew texts this verse (12:32) is numbered 13:1.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="DEU.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Worshiping Other Gods</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 13:1-18 is numbered 13:2-19. 1If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, &#8220;Let us follow other gods&#8221; (gods you have not known) &#8220;and let us worship them,&#8221; 3you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.</div><div class="p"> 6If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, &#8220;Let us go and worship other gods&#8221; (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, 7gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. 9You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.</div><div class="p"> 12If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in 13that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, &#8220;Let us go and worship other gods&#8221; (gods you have not known), 14then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, 15you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely,#13:15 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. both its people and its livestock. 16You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt, 17and none of the condemned things#13:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors&#8212; 18because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="DEU.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Clean and Unclean Food</div><div class="p"> 1You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 2for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.</div><div class="p"> 3Do not eat any detestable thing. 4These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.#14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain. 6You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 7However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. 8The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.</div><div class="p"> 9Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.</div><div class="p"> 11You may eat any clean bird. 12But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, 14any kind of raven, 15the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, 18the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.</div><div class="p"> 19All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.</div><div class="p"> 21Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.</div><div class="p">Do not cook a young goat in its mother&#8217;s milk.</div><div class="s1">Tithes</div><div class="p"> 22Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 24But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. 27And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.</div><div class="p"> 28At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year&#8217;s produce and store it in your towns, 29so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.</div>
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 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="DEU.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Year for Canceling Debts</div><div class="p"> 1At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. 2This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord&#8217;s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. 3You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. 4However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. 6For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.</div><div class="p"> 7If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. 9Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: &#8220;The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,&#8221; so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.</div><div class="s1">Freeing Servants</div><div class="p"> 12If any of your people&#8212;Hebrew men or women&#8212;sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. 13And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.</div><div class="p"> 16But if your servant says to you, &#8220;I do not want to leave you,&#8221; because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.</div><div class="p"> 18Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.</div><div class="s1">The Firstborn Animals</div><div class="p"> 19Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. 21If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. 23But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="DEU.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">The Passover</div><div class="p"> 1Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. 3Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste&#8212;so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. 4Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.</div><div class="p"> 5You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary#16:6 Or down, at the time of day of your departure from Egypt. 7Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.</div><div class="s1">The Festival of Weeks</div><div class="p"> 9Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name&#8212;you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.</div><div class="s1">The Festival of Tabernacles</div><div class="p"> 13Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14Be joyful at your festival&#8212;you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.</div><div class="p"> 16Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.</div><div class="s1">Judges</div><div class="p"> 18Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. 19Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. 20Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.</div><div class="s1">Worshiping Other Gods</div><div class="p"> 21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, 22and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch17" data-usfm="DEU.17">
 <div class="label">17</div><div class="p"> 1Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.</div><div class="p"> 2If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant, 3and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, 4and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. 6On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 7The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.</div><div class="s1">Law Courts</div><div class="p"> 8If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge&#8212;whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults&#8212;take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. 9Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. 10You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. 11Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. 12Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. 13All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.</div><div class="s1">The King</div><div class="p"> 14When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, &#8220;Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,&#8221; 15be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. 16The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, &#8220;You are not to go back that way again.&#8221; 17He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.</div><div class="p"> 18When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch18" data-usfm="DEU.18">
 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">Offerings for Priests and Levites</div><div class="p"> 1The Levitical priests&#8212;indeed, the whole tribe of Levi&#8212;are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance. 2They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.</div><div class="p"> 3This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head. 4You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, 5for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord&#8217;s name always.</div><div class="p"> 6If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, 7he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. 8He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.</div><div class="s1">Occult Practices</div><div class="p"> 9When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13You must be blameless before the Lord your God.</div><div class="s1">The Prophet</div><div class="p"> 14The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, &#8220;Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17The Lord said to me: &#8220;What they say is good. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21You may say to yourselves, &#8220;How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?&#8221; 22If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="DEU.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Cities of Refuge</div><div class="p"> 1When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, 2then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.</div><div class="p"> 4This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety&#8212;anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. 5For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. 6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. 7This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.</div><div class="p"> 8If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, 9because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today&#8212;to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him&#8212;then you are to set aside three more cities. 10Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.</div><div class="p"> 11But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, 12the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. 13Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.</div><div class="p"> 14Do not move your neighbor&#8217;s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.</div><div class="s1">Witnesses</div><div class="p"> 15One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.</div><div class="p"> 16If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, 17the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. 18The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. 20The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="DEU.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">Going to War</div><div class="p"> 1When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3He shall say: &#8220;Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5The officers shall say to the army: &#8220;Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. 6Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. 7Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.&#8221; 8Then the officers shall add, &#8220;Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.&#8221; 9When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.</div><div class="p"> 10When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. 14As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. 15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.</div><div class="p"> 16However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17Completely destroy#20:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. them&#8212;the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites&#8212;as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.</div><div class="p"> 19When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?#20:19 Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people. 20However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch21" data-usfm="DEU.21">
 <div class="label">21</div><div class="s1">Atonement for an Unsolved Murder</div><div class="p"> 1If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was, 2your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke 4and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer&#8217;s neck. 5The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. 6Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7and they shall declare: &#8220;Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.&#8221; Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, 9and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.</div><div class="s1">Marrying a Captive Woman</div><div class="p"> 10When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails 13and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.</div><div class="s1">The Right of the Firstborn</div><div class="p"> 15If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father&#8217;s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.</div><div class="s1">A Rebellious Son</div><div class="p"> 18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20They shall say to the elders, &#8220;This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.&#8221; 21Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.</div><div class="s1">Various Laws</div><div class="p"> 22If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, 23you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God&#8217;s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch22" data-usfm="DEU.22">
 <div class="label">22</div><div class="p"> 1If you see your fellow Israelite&#8217;s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. 2If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. 3Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.</div><div class="p"> 4If you see your fellow Israelite&#8217;s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.</div><div class="p"> 5A woman must not wear men&#8217;s clothing, nor a man wear women&#8217;s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.</div><div class="p"> 6If you come across a bird&#8217;s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.</div><div class="p"> 8When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.</div><div class="p"> 9Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.#22:9 Or be forfeited to the sanctuary</div><div class="p"> 10Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.</div><div class="p"> 11Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.</div><div class="p"> 12Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.</div><div class="s1">Marriage Violations</div><div class="p"> 13If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her, dislikes her 14and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, &#8220;I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,&#8221; 15then the young woman&#8217;s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin. 16Her father will say to the elders, &#8220;I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. 17Now he has slandered her and said, &#8216;I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.&#8217; But here is the proof of my daughter&#8217;s virginity.&#8221; Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, 18and the elders shall take the man and punish him. 19They shall fine him a hundred shekels#22:19 That is, about 2 1/2 pounds or about 1.2 kilograms of silver and give them to the young woman&#8217;s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.</div><div class="p"> 20If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman&#8217;s virginity can be found, 21she shall be brought to the door of her father&#8217;s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father&#8217;s house. You must purge the evil from among you.</div><div class="p"> 22If a man is found sleeping with another man&#8217;s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.</div><div class="p"> 23If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death&#8212;the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man&#8217;s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.</div><div class="p"> 25But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, 27for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.</div><div class="p"> 28If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29he shall pay her father fifty shekels#22:29 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.</div><div class="p"> 30A man is not to marry his father&#8217;s wife; he must not dishonor his father&#8217;s bed.#22:30 In Hebrew texts this verse (22:30) is numbered 23:1.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch23" data-usfm="DEU.23">
 <div class="label">23</div><div class="s1">Exclusion From the Assembly</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 23:1-25 is numbered 23:2-26. 1No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 2No one born of a forbidden marriage#23:2 Or one of illegitimate birth nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.</div><div class="p"> 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 4For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim#23:4 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia to pronounce a curse on you. 5However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.</div><div class="p"> 7Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country. 8The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.</div><div class="s1">Uncleanness in the Camp</div><div class="p"> 9When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. 10If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. 11But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.</div><div class="p"> 12Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.</div><div class="s1">Miscellaneous Laws</div><div class="p"> 15If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. 16Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them.</div><div class="p"> 17No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. 18You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute#23:18 Hebrew of a dog into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.</div><div class="p"> 19Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. 20You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.</div><div class="p"> 21If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.</div><div class="p"> 24If you enter your neighbor&#8217;s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25If you enter your neighbor&#8217;s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch24" data-usfm="DEU.24">
 <div class="label">24</div><div class="p"> 1If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.</div><div class="p"> 5If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.</div><div class="p"> 6Do not take a pair of millstones&#8212;not even the upper one&#8212;as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person&#8217;s livelihood as security.</div><div class="p"> 7If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.</div><div class="p"> 8In cases of defiling skin diseases,#24:8 The Hebrew word for defiling skin diseases, traditionally translated &#8220;leprosy,&#8221; was used for various diseases affecting the skin. be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. 9Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.</div><div class="p"> 10When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge. 11Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. 12If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. 13Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.</div><div class="p"> 14Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. 15Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.</div><div class="p"> 16Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.</div><div class="p"> 17Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.</div><div class="p"> 19When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.</div>
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