Study Desk

Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this, and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

"Set aside for the Lord your God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep.

But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the Lord your God.

"Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt.

Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the Lord your God.

"Slaughter the Passover animals at the one place of worship—and nowhere else in the land that the Lord your God will give you. Do it at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt.

For the next six days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, and on the seventh day assemble to worship the Lord your God, and do no work on that day.

and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor the Lord your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you.

Honor the Lord your God by celebrating this festival for seven days at the one place of worship. Be joyful, because the Lord has blessed your harvest and your work.

as he is able, in proportion to the blessings that the Lord your God has given him.

"Appoint judges and other officials in every town that the Lord your God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially.

Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there.

"When you make an altar for the Lord your God, do not put beside it a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah.

"Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God cattle or sheep that have any defects; the Lord hates this.

"It may be that some cases will be too difficult for the local judges to decide, such as certain cases of property rights or of bodily injury or those cases that involve a distinction between murder and manslaughter. When this happens, go to the one place of worship chosen by the Lord your God,

"After you have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is going to give you and have settled there, then you will decide you need a king like all the nations around you.

and may serve there as a priest of the Lord his God, like the other Levites who are serving there.

"When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, don't follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there.

The Lord your God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance.

Then Moses said, "In the land you are about to occupy, people follow the advice of those who practice divination and look for omens, but the Lord your God does not allow you to do this.