5

6

7

8

mination to the Lord thy God; and you must not defile the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a possession.

If any man hath lately taken a wife, he shall not go out to battle, nor shall he be charged with any business. He shall be free at home one year, that he may cheer his wife whom he hath taken.

Thou shalt not take in pledge an upper, nor a lower milstone, for this is taking a man's life in pledge.

If any man be found stealing any of his brethren, the children of Israel, or, having got him in his power, selleth him, the thief shall be put to death. So shalt thou remove evil from among you.

Take heed to thyself, that in the touch of the leprosy thou be very careful to act according to all the law which the priests, the Levites, may point out to you. Be careful to do in the man9 ner I commanded you. Remember what the Lord thy God did to Mariam, on the way, as you were coming out of the land of Egypt.

10

If a debt of any kind be due to thee from thy neighbour, 11 thou shalt not go into his house to take his pledge. Thou shalt

stand without, and the man who is thy debtor shall bring the 12 pledge out to thee. And if the man be very poor, thou shalt 13 not go to sleep with his pledge. Thou shalt surely restore him

14

his pledge at the going down of the sun, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee, and there shall be mercy for thee in the sight of the Lord thy God.

Thou shalt not withhold the wages of a poor and needy man, whether he be one of thy brethren, or of the strangers who are 15 in thy cities. Thou shalt pay him his wages on the very day: let not the sun set upon it. For he is poor, and dependeth on it; and he will cry to the Lord against thee, and it will be a sin in thee.

16

Fathers shall not be put to death for children; nor the children for fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, or the orphan, or the widow. Thou shalt not take the garment of a 18 widow in pledge, but remember that thou wast a servant in the

land of Egypt, and that thence the Lord thy God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

19

When thou reapest thy harvest in the field, if thou hast forgot a sheaf in thy, field, thou shalt not turn back to take it up; it shall be for the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee, in all the works of thy 20 hands. And when thou gatherest thine olives, thou shalt not turn back to gather what was left behind thee: it shall be for the stranger and the orphan and the widow; and thou shalt remember that thou wast a stranger in the land of Egypt; there21 fore I command thee to do this thing. And when thou gatherest ⚫ in the vintage, thou shalt not glean after thee. The gleanings 22 shall be for the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow; and

thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

XXV. When a controversy happeneth between men, and they have come to a trial, and the trial is over, and the righteous is acquitted, and the criminal known; in case the criminal 2 deserve to be beaten, thou shalt make him lie down, before the judges; and they shall cause him to be beaten, in their pre3 sence, according to his wickedness. With the number of forty stripes they may cause him to be beaten. They shall not exceed that. If thou shouldst proceed to inflict more stripes than these, thy brother will become vile in thy sight.

4

5

Thou shalt not muzzle an ox treading out corn.

When brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and hath no issue, the wife of him who died shall not marry a man abroad, who is not near of kin. The brother of her husband shall go in unto her, and take her to wife, and cohabit with her; 6 and the child which she shall bear shall go by the name of him who died, so that his name shall not be blotted out from among 7 Israel. And if any man decline to take his brother's wife, the woman shall go to the gate, to the senate, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up his brother's name in Israel. 8 My husband's brother hath refused. Thereupon the senate of

his city shall send for him, and say to him, Thou must stand 9 up, and say, I will not take her. Upon which his brother's wife shall come, in the presence of the senate, and loose one shoe from his foot, and spit before his face, and addressing him, say, So shall be done to the man who will not build up his bro

10 ther's house in Israel. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who had his shoe loosed.

11

When men fight together-a man with his brother, if the wife of one of them come to rescue her husband out of the hand of him who is beating him, and stretching forth her hand, 12 take hold of his privities, thou shalt cut off her hand. Thine eye shall not have compassion on her.

13

Thou shalt not have in thy bag different weights, a great and a small; nor shall there be in thy house, different measures, 14 a great and a small. Thou shalt have a just and true weight, 15 and thou shalt have a just and true measure; that thy days may

be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a 16 possession; for every one who doth these things-every one who committeth injustice, is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

17 Remember what Amalek did to thee by the way, when 18 thou wast coming out of the land of Egypt-how he rose up against thee, in the way, and smote thy rear, those who were 19 fainty behind thee. Thou indeed wast hungry, and fainty, and he feared not God. Therefore when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies around thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a possession, thou shalt blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Thou must not forget.

XXVI.

Now, when thou art come to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a possession, and hast taken possession 2 of it, and dwelt therein; thou shalt take some of the first fruits of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and put them in a basket, and go to the place which the Lord thy God hath 3 chosen for his name to be there.invoked; and thou shalt go to the priest, who shall be in those days, and say to him, I acknowledge this day to the Lord my God, that I am come to the land which the Lord solemnly promised our fathers to give 4 us. Thereupon the priest shall take the basket out of thy hands, and set it down over against the altar of the Lord thy God, 5 and in the presence of the Lord shall answer, and say, My father left Syria, and went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, with a small number, and became there a great nation, and a 6 vast multitude. And when the Egyptians afflicted us, and hum

bled us, and imposed upon us hard labours, and we cried to 7 the Lord our God, the Lord heard our voice. When he saw our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression, the Lord 8 himself brought us out of Egypt with his great power, and with his strong hand, and outstretched arm, and with great yi9 sions, and with signs, and with wonders, and brought us to this place, and gave us this land—a land flowing with milk and 10 honey. Now therefore, behold, I have brought this offering of the products of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me― a land flowing with milk and honey. Then thou shalt leave it before the Lord thy God; and when thou hast worshipped be11 fore the Lord thy God, thou shalt regale thyself with all the good things which the Lord thy God hath given thee, thou, and thy family, and the Levite, and the proselyte who is with thee.

12

And when thou hast finished tything the tenth of all thy produce in the third year, thou shalt give another tenth to the Levite, and the proselyte, and the orphan, and the widow, that 13 they may eat in thy cities, and be regaled. Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have removed the hallowed things clean out of my house, and have given them to the Levite, and the proselyte, and the orphan, and the widow, according to all 14 the commands which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy command, nor forgot it. I have not, in my mourning, eaten any of them, nor offered any of them in homage to an unclean thing, nor given any of them to the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God. I have 15 done as thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation-from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and this land which thou hast given them, as thou didst solemnly promise our fathers to give us a land flowing with milk and honey.

16

This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to practise all these rules of rectitude and these judgments; you shall therefore keep, and perform them, with your whole heart, and 17 with your whole soul. Thou hast this day chosen God to be thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his rules of recti18 tude, and his judgments, and to hearken to his voice. And the Lord hath this day chosen thee to be a peculiar people to himself, as he hath said, that thou mayst keep his commandments,

and be, as he hath made thee, renowned above all the nations, 19 and a boast, and glorious, and that thou mayst be a people dedicated to the Lord, as he hath spoken.

XXVII. Again Moses, with the senate of Israel, gave a charge, saying, You shall keep all these commandments which I this day command you.

2

When you have crossed the Jordan, into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; thou shalt set up for thyself large stones, and plaister them with mortar, and thou shalt 3 write on those stones all the words of this law. Soon as you have crossed the Jordan-when you are come to the land which the Lord the God of thy fathers giveth thee-a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord the God of thy fa4 thers promised thee, you shall, immediately after your crossing the Jordan, set up these stones, which I this day command thee, at mount Garizin, and thou shalt plaister them with mor5 tar, and build there an altar to the Lord thy God—an altar of 6 stones. Thou shalt not lift up a tool upon it. Of unwrought

stones thou shalt build the altar to the Lord thy God, and of7 fer upon it whole burnt offerings to the Lord thy God. Then

thou shalt offer there a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and when thou 8 hast eaten, and art filled, and hast rejoiced before the Lord thy God; then thou shalt write upon the stones all this law, in the plainest manner.

9

10

Then Moses with the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying,

Be silent and hear, O Israel. Thou art this day made a people for the Lord thy God; therefore thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and perform all his commandments, and his rules of rectitude, which I this day com11 mand thee. Then Moses gave a charge to the people that day,

saying, Having crossed the Jordan, these shall stand on mount 12 Garizin to bless the people-Symcon, Levi, Judas, Issachar, 13 Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand at the curse on mount Gaibal, Reuben, Gad, and Aser, Zabulon, Dan, and 14 Nephthaleim: and the Levites shall address all Israel, and say with a loud voice,

15

Cursed the man who shall make a graven, or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of artists;