Study Desk

For seven days you shall celebrate a feast for the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.

You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept any bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,

and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep with any defect or serious flaw, for that is detestable to the LORD your God.

If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.

But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has told you, 'You are never to go back that way again.'

He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself great amounts of silver and gold.

When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

For the LORD your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.

For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.

You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.