Study Desk

but her second husband does not like her either. So he writes out divorce papers for her, gives them to her, and sends her away from his house. Or the second husband might die.

But don't hit a person more than forty times, because more than that would disgrace him before others.

But if a man does not want to marry his brother's widow, she should go to the elders at the town gate. She should say, "My brother-in-law will not carry on his brother's name in Israel. He refuses to do his duty for me."

Then the elders of the town must call for the man and talk to him. But if he is stubborn and says, "I don't want to marry her,"

Then you shall announce before the Lord your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with only a few people, but they became a great, powerful, and large nation there.

But the Egyptians were cruel to us, making us suffer and work very hard.

And today the Lord has said that you are his very own people, as he has promised you. But you must obey his commands.

Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God, but don't use any iron tool to cut the stones;

The Lord will help you defeat the enemies that come to fight you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will run from you in seven directions.

The Lord will make you his holy people, as he promised. But you must obey his commands and do what he wants you to do.

The Lord will open up his heavenly storehouse so that the skies send rain on your land at the right time, and he will bless everything you do. You will lend to other nations, but you will not need to borrow from them.

The Lord will make you like the head and not like the tail; you will be on top and not on bottom. But you must obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, being careful to keep them.

But if you do not obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and stay:

The Lord will help your enemies defeat you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in seven directions. And you will become a thing of horror among all the kingdoms on earth.

You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will force her to have sexual relations with him. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not get its grapes.

Your ox will be killed before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you, and it will not be brought back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.

Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will grow tired looking for them every day, but there will be nothing you can do.

You will plant much seed in your field, but your harvest will be small, because locusts will eat the crop.

You will plant vineyards and work hard in them, but you will not pick the grapes or drink the wine, because the worms will eat them.

You will have olive trees in all your land, but you will not get any olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees.