Study Desk

He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honor the Lord and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it.

This will keep him from thinking that he is better than other Israelites and from disobeying the Lord 's commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations.

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

He is to receive the same amount of food as the other priests, and he may keep whatever his family sends him.

"On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear the Lord speak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die.

If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord 's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.

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.)

"Then the officers will address the men and say, ‘Is there any man here who has just built a house, but has not yet dedicated it? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will dedicate his house.

"The officers will also say to the men, ‘Is there any man here who has lost his nerve and is afraid? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, he will destroy the morale of the others.'

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.

"Suppose a man has two wives and they both bear him sons, but the first son is not the child of his favorite wife.

When the man decides how he is going to divide his property among his children, he is not to show partiality to the son of his favorite wife by giving him the share that belongs to the first-born son.

He is to give a double share of his possessions to his first son, even though he is not the son of his favorite wife. A man must acknowledge his first son and give him the share he is legally entitled to.

"Suppose someone has a son who is stubborn and rebellious, a son who will not obey his parents, even though they punish him.

His parents are to take him before the leaders of the town where he lives and make him stand trial.

They are also to fine him a hundred pieces of silver and give the money to the young woman's father, because the man has brought disgrace on an Israelite woman. Moreover, she will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

He is to pay her father the bride price of fifty pieces of silver, and she is to become his wife, because he forced her to have intercourse with him. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

"No man is to disgrace his father by having intercourse with any of his father's wives.

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.

"Suppose a man marries a woman and later decides that he doesn't want her, because he finds something about her that he doesn't like. So he writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home.