Study Desk

"When a man is newly married, he must not be sent into the army. And he must not be given any other special work. For one year he must be free to stay home and make his new wife happy.

You must give his security back to him every evening. Then he will have clothes to sleep in. He will bless you, and the Lord your God will accept this as living right and doing good.

Give him his pay every day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on the money. If you don't pay him, he will complain against you to the Lord , and you will be guilty of sin.

"If two brothers live together, and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man must not marry a stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother must take her as his wife and have sexual relations with her. He must do the duty of a husband's brother for her.

If the man does not want to take his brother's wife, she must go to the town meeting place and tell the leaders, ‘My husband's brother refuses to keep his brother's name alive in Israel. He will not do the duty of a husband's brother to me.'

then his brother's wife must come to him in front of the leaders. She must take his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. She must say, ‘This is being done to the man who will not give his brother a son!'

You will gather the crops that grow in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You must take some of the first crops you gather and put them in baskets. Then take that part of your harvest to the place that the Lord your God chooses to be the home for his name.

Then there before the Lord your God you will say: ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean. He went down into Egypt and stayed there. When he went there, he had only a few people in his family. But in Egypt he became a great nation—a powerful nation with many people.

Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power and strength. He used great miracles and wonders and did amazing things.

Today you have said that the Lord is your God. You have promised to live the way he wants. You promised to follow his teachings and to obey his laws and commands. You said you would do everything he tells you to do.

And today the Lord has accepted you to be his own people. He has promised you this. The Lord also said that you must obey all his commands.

The Lord will make you greater than all the nations he made. He will give you praise, fame, and honor. And you will be his own special people, as he promised."

So you must do everything that the Lord your God tells you. You must obey his commands and his laws that I am giving you today."

"The Levites will say, ‘Cursed is the one who shames his father by having sexual relations with his father's wife.' "Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!'

"The Levites will say, ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister or half sister!' "Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!'

"The Levites will say, ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law!' "Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!'

"Now, if you will be careful to obey the Lord your God and follow all his commands that I tell you today, the Lord your God will put you high above all the nations on earth.

If you follow the Lord your God and obey his commands, he will do what he promised. The Lord will make you his own special people.

The Lord will open his storehouse where he keeps his rich blessings. He will send rain at the right time for your land. He will bless everything you do. You will have money to lend to many nations. And you will not need to borrow anything from them.

"But if you don't listen to what the Lord your God tells you—if you don't obey all his commands and laws that I tell you today—then all these bad things will happen to you: