Study Desk

"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.

Then you must go to the place the Lord chooses to be the home for his name. You will go there to be with the Lord your God. At that place you will eat the tenth of your crops—one-tenth of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the first animals born in your herds and flocks. In this way you will always remember to respect the Lord your God.

Use the money to buy anything you want—cattle, sheep, wine or beer or any other food. Then you and your family should eat and enjoy yourselves there in that place with the Lord your God.

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.

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.

But this will happen only if you obey the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey every command that I have told you today.

Then the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised. And you will have enough money to make loans to many nations. But you will not need to borrow from anyone. You will rule over many nations. But none of these nations will rule over you.

"When you are living in the land the Lord your God is giving you, there might be some poor people living among you. You must not be selfish. You must not refuse to give help to them.

"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.

You must give him some of your animals, grain, and wine. The Lord your God blessed you and gave you plenty of good things. In the same way you must give plenty of good things to your slave.

Remember, you were slaves in Egypt. And the Lord your God set you free. So that is why I am giving you this command today.

"Don't regret letting your slave go free. Remember, he served you six years for half of what you would have paid a hired worker. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Every year you must take these animals to the place the Lord your God will choose. There with the Lord , you and your family will eat these animals.

"But if an animal has something wrong with it—if it is crippled or blind or has something else wrong with it—then you must not sacrifice that animal to the Lord your God.

"Remember, in the month of Abib you must celebrate Passover to honor the Lord your God. It was that night in Abib when the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt.

You must go to the place the Lord your God will choose to be the home for his name. There you must offer the Passover sacrifice to honor the Lord . You must offer the cattle and goats.

"You must not sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the Lord your God gives you.

You must sacrifice the Passover animal only at the place that the Lord your God will choose to be the home for his name. There you must sacrifice the Passover animal in the evening when the sun goes down. This is the festival when you remember that God brought you out of Egypt.

You must cook the meal and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. The next morning you may go back home.

You must eat unleavened bread six days. On the seventh day you must not do any work. On this day the people will come together for a special meeting to honor the Lord your God.