Study Desk

Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you; they must judge the people fairly.

Do not set up a wooden Asherah idol next to the altar you build for the Lord your God,

The person who does not show respect for the judge or priest who is there serving the Lord your God must be put to death. You must get rid of that evil from Israel.

The king must not have too many horses for himself, and he must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because the Lord has told you, "Don't return that way again."

When he becomes king, he should write a copy of the teachings on a scroll for himself, a copy taken from the priests and Levites.

He should not think he is better than his fellow Israelites, and he must not stop obeying the law in any way so that he and his descendants may rule the kingdom for a long time.

This prophet will speak for me; anyone who does not listen when he speaks will answer to me.

But if a prophet says something I did not tell him to say as though he were speaking for me, or if a prophet speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must be killed."

This is the rule for someone who kills another person and runs to one of these cities in order to save his life. But the person must have killed a neighbor without meaning to, not out of hatred.

For example, suppose someone goes into the forest with a neighbor to cut wood and swings an ax to cut down a tree. If the ax head flies off the handle, hitting and killing the neighbor, the one who killed him may run to one of these cities to save his life.

But if a person hates his neighbor and, after hiding and waiting, attacks and kills him and then runs to one of these cities for safety,

the elders of his own city should send for the murderer. They should bring the person back from the city of safety and hand him over to the relative who has the duty of punishing the murderer.

Show no mercy. You must remove from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people so that things will go well for you.

Show no mercy. A life must be paid for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.

because the Lord your God goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies and to save you."

If they accept your offer and open their gates to you, all the people of that city will become your slaves and work for you.

and you may take everything else in the city for yourselves. Take the women, children, and animals, and you may use these things the Lord your God gives you from your enemies.

Otherwise, they will teach you what they do for their gods, and if you do these hateful things, you will sin against the Lord your God.

If you surround and attack a city for a long time, trying to capture it, do not destroy its trees with an ax. You can eat the fruit from the trees, but do not cut them down. These trees are not the enemy, so don't make war against them.

Lord , remove this sin from your people Israel, whom you have saved. Don't blame your people, the Israelites, for the murder of this innocent person." And so the murder will be paid for.