Study Desk

Then I bowed down before the Lord with my face to the ground for 40 days and 40 nights, as I did before. I did not eat any food or drink any water. I did this because you had sinned so badly. You did the thing that is evil to the Lord , and you made him angry.

"So I bowed down before the Lord 40 days and 40 nights, because the Lord said he would destroy you.

So you must also love them, because you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.

This is because we have not yet entered the peaceful land that the Lord your God is giving you.

But be especially careful not to eat the blood, because the life is in the blood. You must not eat meat that still has its life in it.

Don't listen to them, because the Lord your God is testing you. He wants to know if you love him with all your heart and all your soul.

Also, you must kill that prophet or person who explains dreams, because they told you to turn against the Lord your God. And it was the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. They tried to pull you away from the life he commanded you to live, so you must kill them to remove this evil from your people.

No, you must kill them with stones. You be the first one to pick up stones and throw at them. Then everyone must throw stones to kill them, because they tried to pull you away from the Lord your God. And it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.

This is because you are different from other people. You belong to the Lord your God. From all the people in the world, the Lord chose you to be his own special people.

"Don't eat any animal that has died by itself. You may give the dead animal to the foreigner in your town, and he can eat it. Or you may sell the dead animal to a foreigner. But you yourselves must not eat the dead animal, because you belong to the Lord your God. You are his special people. "Don't cook a baby goat in its mother's milk.

But don't forget the Levites living in your town. Share your food with them because they don't have a share of the land like you have.

Keep this food for the Levites, because they don't have any land of their own. Also keep this food for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. This will provide enough for them to come and eat all they want. If you do this, the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

This is the way you must do this: Everyone who has lent money to another Israelite must cancel the debt. He should not ask a fellow Israelite to repay the debt, because the Lord said to cancel debts during that year.

There should not be any poor people in your country, because the Lord your God is giving you this land. And the Lord will greatly bless you.

"Don't ever refuse to help someone simply because the seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near. Don't let an evil thought like that enter your mind. You must never have bad thoughts about someone who needs help. You must not refuse to help them. If you don't help the poor, they might complain to the Lord , and he will judge you guilty of sin.

"So be sure to give to the poor. Don't hesitate to give to them, because the Lord your God will bless you for doing this good thing. He will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

"But one of your slaves might say to you, ‘I will not leave you.' He might say this because he loves you and your family and because he has a good life with you.

The king must not get more and more horses for himself. And he must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because the Lord has told you, ‘You must never go back that way.'

Also, the king must not have too many wives, because that will make him turn away from the Lord. And he must not make himself rich with silver and gold.

He must keep that book with him and read from it all his life, because he must learn to respect the Lord his God. He must learn to completely obey everything the law commands.