Study Desk

"Know this day that I am not speaking to your children who have not known [by personal experience] and who have not seen [firsthand] the instruction and discipline of the LORD your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm;

and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

"You shall teach them [diligently] to your children [impressing God's precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

"For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to hold tightly to Him—

"But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to establish His Name there for His dwelling [place], and there you shall come [to worship Him].

"You shall not do at all what we are doing here [in the camp] today, every man doing whatever is right in his [own] eyes.

then it shall come about that the place which the LORD your God will choose for His Name [and Presence] to dwell; there you shall bring everything that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and the [voluntary] contribution of your hand [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choice votive offerings which you vow to the LORD.

"However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your [city] gates, whatever you wish, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you [as His generous provision for daily life]. The [ceremonially] unclean and the clean may eat it, such as the gazelle and the deer.

"If the place which the LORD your God chooses to put His Name (Presence) is too far away from you, then you may slaughter [animals] from your herd or flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your [city] gates whatever you wish.

"You shall walk after the LORD your God and you shall fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and you shall keep His commandments and you shall listen to His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him.

"Nothing from that which is put under the ban (designated for destruction) shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn away from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He swore to your fathers,

because you have listened to and obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

for you are a holy people [set apart] to the LORD your God; and the LORD has chosen you out of all the peoples who are on the earth to be a people for His own possession.

"You shall eat the tithe (tenth) of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock before the LORD your God in the place where He chooses to establish His Name (Presence), so that you may learn to fear [and worship] the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] always.

"If the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His Name (Presence) is a great distance from you and you are not able to carry your tithe, because the LORD your God has blessed you [with such an abundance],

"This is the regulation for the release: every creditor shall forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require repayment from his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S release has been proclaimed.

then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall [willingly] be your servant always. Also you shall do the same for your maidservant.

"You shall sacrifice the Passover [lamb] to the LORD your God from the flock or the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to establish His Name (Presence).

but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence), you shall sacrifice the Passover [lamb] in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.

and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence).