Study Desk

"If a person is illegitimate by birth, neither he nor his descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord .

"Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house.

When she leaves his house, she is free to marry another man.

"If you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to pick up the item he is giving as security.

If your neighbor is poor and gives you his cloak as security for a loan, do not keep the cloak overnight.

If the person in the wrong is sentenced to be flogged, the judge must command him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the crime.

"If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband's brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law.

The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.

"But if the man refuses to marry his brother's widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying me.'

the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.'

Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off'!

put some of the first produce from each crop you harvest into a basket and bring it to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored.

"You must then say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt. His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation.

You have declared today that the Lord is your God. And you have promised to walk in his ways, and to obey his decrees, commands, and regulations, and to do everything he tells you.

The Lord has declared today that you are his people, his own special treasure, just as he promised, and that you must obey all his commands.

‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with one of his father's wives, for he has violated his father.' And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.'

‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether she is the daughter of his father or his mother.' And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.'

‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his mother-in-law.' And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.'

"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.

"If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do.