Study Desk

"You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your fellow Israelite you shall not charge interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

"If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen from the sons of Israel, and he treats him violently or sells him [as a slave], then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

"Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you; just as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

"You shall certainly restore the pledge (security deposit) to him at sunset, so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you; and it will be credited to you as righteousness (right standing) before the LORD your God.

"You shall give him his wages on the day that he earns them before the sun sets—for he is poor and is counting on it—so that he does not cry out to the LORD against you, and it becomes a sin for you.

"When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf [of grain] in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

"It shall be that her firstborn [son] will be given the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel.

then his brother's widow shall approach him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, 'So it is done to that man who does not build up his brother's household.'

"You shall not have in your bag inaccurate weights, a heavy and a light [so you can cheat others].

"You shall have a perfect (full) and just weight, and a perfect and just measure, so that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce the third year, [which is] the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within the gates of your cities and be satisfied.

"So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to [enter] the land which the LORD your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with plaster (lime, whitewash).

"You shall write on the stones all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may go into the land which the LORD your God gives you, a land [of plenty] flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers has promised you.

"So you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and do His commandments and statutes which I am commanding you today."

"So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you.

"So all these curses will come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He has commanded you.

so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities.

"The most refined and well-bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and pampered, will be cruel and hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,

"It shall come about that just as the LORD delighted over you to make you prosper and multiply, so the LORD will delight over you to bring you to ruin and destruction; and you will be uprooted [violently] from the land which you are entering to possess.

"You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the LORD your God [on whom you must depend].