Study Desk

"After the Lord your God has destroyed the people whose land he is giving you and after you have taken their cities and houses and settled there,

"When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he told your ancestors he would, and gives you all the land he has promised,

then you are to select three more cities. (He will give you this land if you do everything that I command you today and if you love the Lord your God and live according to his teachings.)

"Do not move your neighbor's property line, established long ago in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

"When you go out to fight against your enemies and you see chariots and horses and an army that outnumbers yours, do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who rescued you from Egypt, will be with you.

The Lord your God is going with you, and he will give you victory.'

Then, when the Lord your God lets you capture the city, kill every man in it.

"But when you capture cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, kill everyone.

"Suppose someone is found murdered in a field in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you, and you do not know who killed him.

The levitical priests are to go there also, because they are to decide every legal case involving violence. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name.

"When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners,

it is not to remain there overnight. It must be buried the same day, because a dead body hanging on a post brings God's curse on the land. Bury the body, so that you will not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

"Women are not to wear men's clothing, and men are not to wear women's clothing; the Lord your God hates people who do such things.

But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead he turned the curse into a blessing, because he loved you.

Keep your camp ritually clean, because the Lord your God is with you in your camp to protect you and to give you victory over your enemies. Do not do anything indecent that would cause the Lord to turn his back on you.

Also, no money earned in this way may be brought into the house of the Lord your God in fulfillment of a vow. The Lord hates temple prostitutes.

You may charge interest on what you lend to foreigners, but not on what you lend to Israelites. Obey this rule, and the Lord your God will bless everything you do in the land that you are going to occupy.

"When you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not put off doing what you promised; the Lord will hold you to your vow, and it is a sin not to keep it.

In either case, her first husband is not to marry her again; he is to consider her defiled. If he married her again, it would be offensive to the Lord . You are not to commit such a terrible sin in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam as you were coming from Egypt.