Study Desk

return it to him each evening, so that he can have it to sleep in. Then he will be grateful, and the Lord your God will be pleased with you.

"When you gather your crops and fail to bring in some of the grain that you have cut, do not go back for it; it is to be left for the foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

The first son that they have will be considered the son of the dead man, so that his family line will continue in Israel.

Use true and honest weights and measures, so that you may live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

They had no fear of God, and so they attacked you from the rear when you were tired and exhausted, and killed all who were straggling behind.

So then, when the Lord your God has given you the land and made you safe from all your enemies who live around you, be sure to kill all the Amalekites, so that no one will remember them any longer. Do not forget!

So now I bring to the Lord the first part of the harvest that he has given me.' "Then set the basket down in the Lord 's presence and worship there.

"Every third year give the tithe—a tenth of your crops—to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, so that in every community they will have all they need to eat. When you have done this,

"Today the Lord your God commands you to obey all his laws; so obey them faithfully with all your heart.

so obey him and keep all his laws that I am giving you today."

He will send rain in season from his rich storehouse in the sky and bless all your work, so that you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any.

A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment.

So then, you will serve the enemies that the Lord is going to send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, and naked—in need of everything. The Lord will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed.

"When your enemies are besieging your towns, you will become so desperate for food that you will even eat the children that the Lord your God has given you.

Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left.

Even the most refined woman of noble birth, so rich that she has never had to walk anywhere, will behave in the same way. When the enemy besieges her town, she will become so desperate for food that she will secretly eat her newborn child and the afterbirth as well. She will not share them with the husband she loves or with any of her children.

Just as the Lord took delight in making you prosper and in making you increase in number, so he will take delight in destroying you and in bringing ruin on you. You will be uprooted from the land that you are about to occupy.

Obey faithfully all the terms of this covenant, so that you will be successful in everything you do.

so that the Lord may now confirm you as his people and be your God, as he promised you and your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And so the Lord became angry with his people and brought on their land all the disasters written in this book.