DEUTERONOMY - Chapter 18

"The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of YAHWEH made by fire, and His portion. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; YAHWEH is their inheritance, as He said to them.

"And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For YAHWEH your Elohim has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of YAHWEH, him and his sons forever.

"So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which YAHWEH chooses, then he may serve in the name of YAHWEH his Elohim as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before YAHWEH. They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

"When you come into the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to YAHWEH, and because of these abominations YAHWEH your Elohim drives them out from before you.

You shall be blameless before YAHWEH your Elohim. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, YAHWEH your Elohim has not appointed such for you.

"YAHWEH your Elohim will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of YAHWEH your Elohim in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of YAHWEH my Elohim, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.'

"And YAHWEH said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which YAHWEH has not spoken?'— when a prophet speaks in the name of YAHWEH, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which YAHWEH has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Chapter 19

"When YAHWEH your Elohim has cut off the nations whose land YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you to possess. You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

"And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall separate three cities for yourself.'

"Now if YAHWEH your Elohim enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love YAHWEH your Elohim and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

"But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

"You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you to possess.

"One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before YAHWEH, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you.

Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Chapter 20

"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for YAHWEH your Elohim is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for YAHWEH your Elohim is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'

"Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: 'What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.'

"The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.' And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

"When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when YAHWEH your Elohim delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies' plunder which YAHWEH your Elohim gives you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

"But of the cities of these peoples which YAHWEH your Elohim gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as YAHWEH your Elohim has commanded you, lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against YAHWEH your Elohim.

"When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man's food. Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

HalleluYah!