Where To Offer Sacrifices

17 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to tell Aaron, his sons, and everyone else in Israel: ^3-4 Whenever you kill any of your cattle, sheep, or goats as sacrifices to me, you must do it at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you don’t, you will be guilty of pouring out blood, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ⁵ And so, when you sacrifice an animal to ask my blessing, it must not be done out in a field, ⁶ but in front of the sacred tent. Then a priest can splatter its blood against the bronze altar and send its fat up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. ⁷ Don’t ever turn from me again and offer sacrifices to goat-demons. This law will never change. ⁸ Remember! No one in Israel, including foreigners, is to offer a sacrifice anywhere ⁹ except at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you do, you will no longer belong to my people. Do Not Eat Blood [The Lord said:] ¹⁰ I will turn against any of my people who eat blood. This also includes any foreigners living among you. ¹¹ Life is in the blood, and I have given you the blood of animals to sacrifice in place of your own. ¹² That’s also why I have forbidden you to eat blood. ¹³ Even if you should hunt and kill a bird or an animal, you must drain out the blood and cover it with soil. ¹⁴ The life of every living creature is in its blood. That’s why I have forbidden you to eat blood and why I have warned you that anyone who does will no longer belong to my people. ¹⁵ If you happen to find a dead animal and eat it, you must take a bath and wash your clothes, but you are still unclean until evening. ¹⁶ If you don’t take a bath, you will suffer for what you did wrong. Forbidden Sex 18 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to tell the people of Israel: I am the Lord your God! ³ So don’t follow the customs of Egypt where you used to live or those of Canaan where I am bringing you. ⁴ I am the Lord your God, and you must obey my teachings. ⁵ Obey them and you will live. I am the Lord. ⁶ Don’t have sex with any of your close relatives, ⁷ especially your own mother. This would disgrace your father. ⁸ And don’t disgrace him by having sex with any of his other wives. ⁹ Don’t have sex with your sister or stepsister, whether you grew up together or not. ¹⁰ Don’t disgrace yourself by having sex with your granddaughter ¹¹ or half sister ^12-13 or a sister of your father or mother. ¹⁴ Don’t disgrace your uncle by having sex with his wife. ¹⁵ Don’t have sex with your daughter-in-law ¹⁶ or sister-in-law. ¹⁷ And don’t have sex with the daughter or granddaughter of any woman that you have earlier had sex with. You may be having sex with a relative, and that would make you unclean. ¹⁸ As long as your wife is alive, don’t cause trouble for her by taking one of her sisters as a second wife. ¹⁹ When a woman is having her monthly period, she is unclean, so don’t have sex with her. ²⁰ Don’t have sex with another man’s wife — that would make you unclean. ²¹ Don’t sacrifice your children on the altar fires to the god Molech. I am the Lord your God, and that would disgrace me. ²² It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man. ²³ Anyone who has sex with an animal is unclean. ²⁴ Don’t make yourselves unclean by any of these disgusting practices of those nations that I am forcing out of the land for you. They made themselves ²⁵ and the land so unclean, that I punished the land because of their sins, and I made it vomit them up. ^26-27 Now don’t do these sickening things that make the land filthy. Instead, obey my laws and teachings. ²⁸ Then the land won’t become sick of you and vomit you up, just as it did them. ^29-30 If any of you do these vulgar, disgusting things, you will be unclean and no longer belong to my people. I am the Lord your God, and I forbid you to follow their sickening way of life. Moral and Religious Laws 19 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to say to the community of Israel: I am the Lord your God. I am holy, and you must be holy too! ^3-4 Respect your father and your mother, honor the Sabbath, and don’t make idols or images. I am the Lord your God. ⁵ When you offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, be sure to follow my instructions. ⁶ You may eat the meat either on the day of the sacrifice or on the next day, but you must burn anything left until the third day. ⁷ If you eat any of it on the third day, the sacrifice will be disgusting to me, and I will reject it. ⁸ In fact, you will be punished for not respecting what I say is holy, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ⁹ When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing along the edges of your fields and don’t pick up what falls on the ground. ¹⁰ Don’t strip your grapevines clean or gather the grapes that fall off the vines. Leave them for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God. ¹¹ Do not steal or tell lies or cheat others. ¹² Do not misuse my name by making promises you don’t intend to keep. I am the Lord your God. ¹³ Do not steal anything or cheat anyone, and don’t fail to pay your workers at the end of each day. ¹⁴ I am the Lord your God, and I command you not to make fun of the deaf or to cause a blind person to stumble. ¹⁵ Be fair, no matter who is on trial — don’t favor either the poor or the rich. ¹⁶ Don’t be a gossip, but never hesitate to speak up in court, especially if your testimony can save someone’s life.¹⁷ Don’t hold grudges. On the other hand, it’s wrong not to correct someone who needs correcting. ¹⁸ Stop being angry and don’t try to take revenge. I am the Lord, and I command you to love others as much as you love yourself. ¹⁹ Breed your livestock animals only with animals of the same kind, and don’t plant two kinds of seed in the same field or wear clothes made of different kinds of material. ²⁰ If a man has sex with a slave woman who is promised in marriage to someone else, he must pay a fine, but they are not to be put to death. After all, she was still a slave at the time. ^21-22 The man must bring a ram to the entrance of the sacred tent and give it to a priest, who will then offer it as a sacrifice to me, so the man’s sins will be forgiven. ²³ After you enter the land, you will plant fruit trees, but you are not to eat any of their fruit for the first three years. ²⁴ In the fourth year the fruit must be set apart, as an expression of thanks ²⁵ to me, the Lord God. Do this, and in the fifth year, those trees will produce an abundant harvest of fruit for you to eat. ²⁶ Don’t eat the blood of any animal. Don’t practice any kind of witchcraft. ^27-28 I forbid you to shave any part of your head or beard or to cut and tattoo yourself as a way of worshiping the dead. ²⁹ Don’t let your daughters serve as temple prostitutes — this would bring disgrace both to them and the land. ³⁰ I command you to respect the Sabbath and the place where I am worshiped. ³¹ Don’t make yourselves disgusting to me by going to people who claim they can talk to the dead. ³² I command you to show respect for older people and to obey me with fear and trembling. ³³ Don’t mistreat any foreigners who live in your land. ³⁴ Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. ^35-36 Use honest scales and don’t cheat when you weigh or measure anything. I am the Lord your God.     escued you from Egypt, ³⁷ and I command you to obey my laws. Penalties for Disobeying God’s Laws20 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to say to the community of Israel: Death by stoning is the penalty for any citizens or foreigners in the country who sacrifice their children to the god Molech. ³ They have disgraced both the place where I am worshiped and my holy name, and so I will turn against them and no longer let them belong to my people. ⁴ Some of you may let them get away with human sacrifice, ⁵ but not me. If any of you worship Molech, I will turn against you and your entire family, and I will no longer let you belong to my people. ⁶ I will be your enemy if you go to someone who claims to speak with the dead, and I will destroy you from among my people. ⁷ Dedicate yourselves to me and be holy because I am the Lord your God. ⁸ I have chosen you as my people, and I expect you to obey my laws. ⁹ If you curse your father or mother, you will be put to death, and it will be your own fault. ¹⁰ If any of you men have sex with another man’s wife, both you and the woman will be put to death. ¹¹ Having sex with one of your father’s wives disgraces him. So both you and the woman will be put to death, just as you deserve. ¹² It isn’t natural to have sex with your daughter-in-law, and both of you will be put to death, just as you deserve. ¹³ It’s disgusting for men to have sex with one another, and those who do will be put to death, just as they deserve. ¹⁴ It isn’t natural for a man to marry both a mother and her daughter, and so all three of them will be burned to death. ^15-16 If any of you have sex with an animal, both you and the animal will be put to death, just as you deserve. ¹⁷ If you marry one of your sisters, you will be punished, and the two of you will be disgraced by being openly forced out of the community. ¹⁸ If you have sex with a woman during her monthly period, both you and the woman will be cut off from the people of Israel. ¹⁹ The sisters of your father and mother are your own relatives, and you will be punished for having sex with any of them. ²⁰ If you have sex with your uncle’s wife, neither you nor she will ever have any children. ²¹ And if you marry your sister-in-law, neither of you will ever have any children. ²² Obey my laws and teachings. Or else the land I am giving you will become sick of you and throw you out. ²³ The nations I am chasing out did these disgusting things, and I hated them for it, so don’t follow their example. ²⁴ I am the Lord your God, and I have promised you their land that is rich with milk and honey. I have chosen you to be different from other people. ²⁵ That’s why you must make a difference between animals and birds that I have said are clean and unclean — this will keep you from becoming disgusting to me. ²⁶ I am the Lord, the holy God. You have been chosen to be my people, and so you must be holy too. ²⁷ If you claim to receive messages from the dead, you will be put to death by stoning, just as you deserve. Instructions for Priests 21 ¹ The Lord gave Moses these instructions for Aaron’s sons, the priests: Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don’t go near a dead relative, ² except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, ³ or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. ⁴ Don’t make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage. ⁵ Don’t shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. ⁶ I am the Lord your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That’s why you must keep yourselves holy. ⁷ Don’t marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, ⁸ because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness. ⁹ If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death. ¹⁰ If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. ¹¹ Don’t make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. ¹² If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest. ¹³ If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin ¹⁴ from your own tribe. Don’t marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. ¹⁵ In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember — I am the Lord, and I have chosen you. ¹⁶ The Lord told Moses ^17-18 to say to Aaron: No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face i  disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, ¹⁹ if either a foot or a hand is crippled, ²⁰ if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. ²¹ These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. ²² They may eat the food offerings presented to me, ²³ but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember — I am the Lord, the one who makes a priest holy. ²⁴ Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel. The Offerings Are Holy 22 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to say to Aaron and his sons: I am the Lord God, and I demand that you honor my holy name by showing proper respect for the offerings brought to me by the people of Israel. ³ If any of you are unclean when you accept an offering for me, I will no longer let you serve as a priest. ⁴ None of you may take part in the sacred meals while you have a skin disease or an infected penis, or after you have been near a dead body or have had a flow of semen, ⁵ or if you have touched an unclean creature of any sort, including an unclean person. ^6-7 Once you are unclean, you must take a bath, but you still cannot eat any of the sacred food until evening. ⁸ I command you not to eat anything that is killed by a wild animal or dies a natural death. This would make you unclean. ⁹ Obey me, or you will die on duty for disgracing the place of worship. Remember — I am the Lord, the one who makes a priest holy. ¹⁰ Only you priests and your families may eat the food offerings; these are too sacred for any of your servants. ¹¹ However, any slave that you own, including those born into your household, may eat this food. ¹² If your daughter marries someone who isn’t a priest, she can no longer have any of this food. ¹³ But if she returns to your home, either widowed or divorced, and has no children, she may join in the meal. Only members of a priestly family can eat this food, ¹⁴ and anyone else who accidentally does so, must pay for the food plus a fine of twenty percent. ¹⁵ I warn you not to treat lightly the offerings that are brought by the people of Israel. ¹⁶ Don’t let them become guilty of eating this sacred food. Remember — I am the Lord, the one who makes these offerings holy. Acceptabl  Sacrifices ¹⁷ The Lord told Moses ¹⁸ to tell Aaron and his sons and everyone else the rules for offering sacrifices. He said: The animals that are to be completely burned on the altar ^19-20 must have nothing wrong with them, or else I won’t accept them. Bulls or rams or goats are the animals to be used for these sacrifices. ²¹ When you offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, there must be nothing wrong with the animal. This is true, whether the sacrifice is part of a promise or something you do voluntarily. ²² Don’t offer an animal that is blind or injured or that has an infection or a skin disease. ²³ If one of your cattle or lambs has a leg that is longer or shorter than the others, you may offer it voluntarily, but not as part of a promise. ²⁴ As long as you live in this land, don’t offer an animal with injured testicles. ²⁵ And don’t bring me animals you bought from a foreigner. I won’t accept them, because they are no better than one that has something wrong with it. ²⁶ The Lord told Moses to say: ²⁷ Newborn cattle, sheep, or goats must remain with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day, you may send them up in smoke to me, and I will accept the offering. ²⁸ Don’t sacrifice a newborn animal and its mother on the same day. ²⁹ When you offer a sacrifice to give thanks to me, you must do it in a way that is acceptable. ³⁰ Eat all of the meat that same day and don’t save any for the next day. I am the Lord your God! ³¹ Obey my laws and teachings — I am the Lord. ^32-33 I demand respect from the people of Israel, so don’t disgrace my holy name. Remember — I am the one who chose you to be priests and rescued all of you from Egypt, so that I would be your Lord. Religious Festivals 23 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to say to the community of Israel: I have chosen certain times for you to come together and worship me. ³ You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change. Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread (Numbers 28.16–25)  The Lord said:] ^4-5 Passover is another time when you must come together to worship me, and it must be celebrated on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month of each year. ⁶ The Festival of Thin Bread begins on the fifteenth day of that same month; it lasts seven days, and during this time you must honor me by eating bread made without yeast. ⁷ On the first day of this festival you must rest from your work and come together for worship. ⁸ Each day of this festival you must offer sacrifices. Then on the final day you must once again rest from your work and come together for worship. Offering the First Part of the Harvest ⁹ The Lord told Moses ¹⁰ to say to the community of Israel: After you enter the land I am giving you, the first bundle of wheat from eac  crop must be given to me. So bring it to a priest ¹¹ on the day after the Sabbath. He will lift it up in dedication to me, and I will accept you. ¹² You must also offer a sacrifice to please me. So bring the priest a one-year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it ¹³ and four pounds of your finest flour mixed with olive oil. Then he will place these on the bronze altar and send them up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. Together with these, you must bring a quart of wine as a drink offering. ¹⁴ I am your God, and I forbid you to eat any new grain or anything made from it until you have brought these offerings. This law will never change. The Harvest Festival (Numbers 28.26–31) [The Lord said:] ¹⁵ Seven weeks after you offer this bundle of grain, each family must bring another offering of new grain. ¹⁶ Do this exactly fifty days later, which is the day following the seventh Sabbath. ¹⁷ Bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up in dedication to me. Each loaf is to be made with yeast and with four pounds of the finest flour from the first part of your harvest. ¹⁸ At this same time, the entire community of Israel must bring seven lambs that are a year old, a young bull, and two rams. These animals must have nothing wrong with them, and they must be offered as a sacrifice to please me. You must also offer the proper grain and wine sacrifices with each animal. ¹⁹ Offer a goat as a sacrifice for sin, and two rams a year old as a sacrifice to ask my blessing. ²⁰ The priest will lift up the rams together with the bread in dedication to me. These offerings are holy and are my gift to the priest. ²¹ This is a day of celebration and worship, a time of rest from your work. You and your descendants must obey this law. ²² When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don’t pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God! The Festival of Trumpets (Numbers 29.1–6) ²³ The Lord told Moses ^24-25 to say to the people of Israel: The first day of the seventh month must be a day of complete rest. Then at th   sound of the trumpets, you will come together to worship and to offer sacrifices on the altar. The Great Day of Forgiveness (Numbers 29.7–11) ²⁶ The Lord God said to Moses: ⁷ The tenth day of the seventh month is the Great Day of Forgiveness. It is a solemn day of worship; everyone must go without eating to show sorrow for their sins, and sacrifices must be burned. ²⁸ No one is to work on that day — it is the Great Day of Forgiveness, when sacrifices will be offered to me, so that I will forgive your sins. ²⁹ I will destroy anyone who refuses to go without eating. ^30-31 None of my people are ever to do any work on that day — not now or in the future. And I will wipe out those who do! ³² This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth. The Festival of Shelters (Numbers 29.12–40) ³ The Lord told Moses ³⁴ to say to the community of Israel: Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and continuing for seven days, everyone must celebrate the Festival o  Shelters in honor of me. ³⁵ No one is to do any work on the first day of the festival — it is a time when everyone must come together for worship. ³⁶ For seven days, sacrifices must be offered on the altar. The eighth day is also to be a day of complete rest, as well as a time of offering sacrifices on the altar and of coming together for worship. ³⁷ I have chosen these festivals as times when my people must come together for worship and when animals, grain, and wine are to be offered on the proper days. ³⁸ These festivals must be celebrated in addition to the Sabbaths and the times when you offer special gifts or sacrifices to keep a promise or as a voluntary offering. ³⁹ Remember to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the seventh month after you have harvested your crops. Celebrate this festival for seven days in honor of me and don’t do any work on the first day or on the day following the festival. ⁴⁰ Pick the best fruit from your trees and cut leafy branches to use during the time of this joyous celebration in my honor. ⁴¹ I command you and all of your descendants to celebrate this festival during the seventh month of each year. ⁴² For seven days every Israelite must live in a shelter, ⁴³ so future generations will know that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. ⁴⁴ This is how Moses instructed the people of Israel to celebrate the Lord’s festivals.  aring for the Lamps  Exodus 27.20,21) 24 ¹ The Lord told Moses ² to say to the community of Israel:  ou must supply the purest olive oil for the lamps in the sacred tent, so they will keep burning. ^3-4 Aaron will set up the gold lampstand in the holy place of the sacred tent. Then he will light the seven lamps that must be kept burning there in my presence, every night from now on. This law will never change. The Sacred Bread [The Lord said:] ⁵ Use your finest flour to bake twelve loaves of bread about four pounds each, ⁶ then take them into the sacred tent and lay them on the gold table in two rows of six loaves. ⁷ Alongside each row put some pure incense that will be sent up by fire in place of the bread as an offering to me. ⁸ Aaron must lay fresh loaves on the table each Sabbath, and priests in all generations must continue this practice as part of Israel’s agreement with me. ⁹ This bread will always belong to Aaron and his family; it is very holy because it was offered to me, and it must be eaten in a holy place. Punishment for Cursing the Lord ^10-11 Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan, had married an Egyptian, and they had a son. One day their son got into a fight with an Israelite man in camp and cursed the name of the Lord. So the young man was dragged off to Moses, ¹² who had him guarded while everyone waited for the Lord to tell them what to do. ¹³ Finally, the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁴ This man has cursed me! Take him outside the camp and have the witnesses lay their hands on his head. Then command the whole community of Israel to stone him to death. ^15-16 And warn the others that everyone else who curses me will die in the same way, whether they are Israelites by birth or foreigners living among you. ¹⁷ Death is also the penalty for murder, ¹⁸ but the killing of an animal that belongs to someone else requires only that the animal be replaced. ¹⁹ Personal injuries to others must be dealt with in keeping with the crime — ²⁰ a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. ²¹ It’s possible to pay the owner for an animal that has been killed, but death is the penalty for murder. ²² I am the Lord your God, and I demand equal justice both for you Israelites and for those foreigners who live among you. ²³ When Moses finished speaking, the people did what the Lord had told Moses, and they stoned to death the man who had cursed the Lord. The Seventh Year (Deuteronomy 15.1–11) 25 ¹ When Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord told him ² to say to the community of Israel: After you enter the land that I am giving you, it must be allowed to rest one year out of every seven. ³ You may raise grain and grapes for six years, ⁴ but the seventh year you must let your fields and vineyards rest in honor of me, your Lord. ⁵ This is to be a time of complete rest for your fields and vineyards, so don’t harvest anything they produce. ^6-7 However, you and your slaves and your hired workers, as well as any domestic or wild animals, may eat whatever grows on its own. The Year of Celebration [The Lord said to hi  people:] ⁸ Once every forty-nine years ⁹ on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is also the Great Day of Forgiveness, trumpets are to be blown everywhere in the land. ¹⁰ This fiftieth year is sacred — it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their original property, and slaves will return home to their families. ¹¹ This is a year of complete celebration, so don’t plant any seed or harvest what your fields or vineyards produce. ¹² In this time of sacred celebration you may eat only what grows on its own. ¹³ During this year, all property must go back to its original owner. ^14-15 So when you buy or sell farmland, the price is to be determined by the number of crops it can produce before the next Year of Celebration. Don’t try to cheat. ¹⁶ If it is a long time before the next Year of Celebration, the price will be higher, because what is really being sold are the crops that the land can produce. ¹⁷ I am the Lord your God, so obey me and don’t cheat anyone. ^18-19 If you obey my laws and teachings, you will live safely in the land and enjoy its abundant crops. ²⁰ Don’t ever worry about what you will eat during the seventh year when you are forbidden to plant or harvest. ²¹ I will see to it that you harvest enough in the sixth year to last for three years. ²² In the eighth year you will live on what you harvested in the sixth year, but in the ninth year you will eat what you plant and harvest in the eighth year. ²³ No land may be permanently bought or sold. It all belongs to me — it isn’t your land, and you only live there for a little while. ²⁴ When property is being sold, the original owner must be given the first chance to buy it. ²⁵ If any of you Israelites become so poor that you are forced to sell your property, your closest relative must buy it back, ²⁶ if that relative has the money. Later, if you can afford to buy it, ²⁷ you must pay enough to make up for what the present owner will lose on it before the next Year of Celebration, when the property would become yours again. ²⁸ But if you don’t have the money to pay the present owner a fair price, you will have to wait until the Year of Celebration, when the property will once again become yours. ²⁹ If you sell a house in a walled city, you have only one year in which to buy it back. ³⁰ If you don’t buy it back before that year is up, it becomes the permanent property of the one who bought it, and it will not be returned to you in the Year of Celebration. ³¹ But a house out in a village may be bought back at any time just like a field. And it must be returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration. ³² If any Levites own houses inside a walled city, they will always have the right to buy them back. ³³ And any houses that they do not buy back will be returned to them in the Year of Celebration, because these homes are their permanent property among the people of Israel. ³⁴ No pastureland owned by the Levi tribe can ever be sold; it is their permanent possession. Help for the Poor [The Lord said:] ⁵ If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you. ^36-37 Don’t take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit. Instead, honor me by letting them stay where they now live. ³⁸ Remember — I am the Lord your God! I rescued you from Egypt and gave you the land of Canaan, so that I would be your God. ³⁹ Suppose some of your people become so poor that they have to sell themselves and become your slaves. ⁴⁰ Then you must treat them as servants, rather than as slaves. And in the Year of Celebration they are to be set free, ⁴¹ so they and their children may return home to their families and property. ⁴² I brought them out of Egypt to be my servants, not to be sold as slaves. ⁴³ So obey me, and don’t be cruel to the poor. ⁴⁴ If you want slaves, buy them from other nations ⁴⁵ or from the foreigners who live in your own country, and make them your property. ⁴⁶ You can own them, and even leave them to your children when you die, but do not make slaves of your own people or be cruel to them. ⁴⁷ Even if some of you Israelites become so much in debt that you must sell yourselves to foreigners in your country, ⁴⁸ you still have the right to be set free by a relative, such as a brother ⁴⁹ or uncle or cousin, or some other family member. In fact, if you ever get enough money, you may buy your own freedom ⁵⁰ by paying your owner for the number of years you would still be a slave before the next Year of Celebration. ^51-52 The longer the time until then, the more you will have to pay. ⁵³ And even while you are the slaves of foreigners in your own country, your people must make sure that you are not mistreated. ⁵⁴ If you cannot gain your freedom in any of these ways, both you and your children will still be set free in the Year of Celebration. ⁵⁵ People of Israel, I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt to be my own servants. Blessings for Obeying the Lord [The Lord said:]  6 ¹ I am the Lord your God! So don’t make or worship any sort of idols or images. ² Respect the Sabbath and honor the place where I am worshiped, because I am the Lord. ³ Faithfully obey my laws, ⁴ and I will send rain to make your crops grow and your trees produce fruit. ⁵ Your harvest of grain and grapes will be so abundant, that you won’t know what to do with it all. You will eat and be satisfied, and you will live in safety. ⁶ I will bless your country with peace, and you will rest without fear. I will wipe out the dangerous animals and protect you from enemy attacks. ⁷ You will chase and destroy your enemies, ⁸ even if there are only five of you and a hundred of them, or only a hundred of you and ten thousand of them. ⁹ I will treat you with such kindness that your nation will grow strong, and I will also keep my promises to you. ¹⁰ Your barns will overflow with grain each year. ¹¹ I will live among you and never again look on you with disgust. ¹² I will walk with you — I will be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God, and I rescued you from Egypt, so that you would never again be slaves. I have set you free; now walk with your heads held high. Punishment for Disobeying the Lord [The Lord said:] ^4-15 If you disobey me and my laws, and if you break our agreement, ¹⁶ I will punish you terribly, and you will be ruined. You will be struck with incurable diseases and with fever that leads to blindness and depression. Your enemies will eat the crops you plant, ¹⁷ and I will turn from you and let you be destroyed by your attackers. You will even run at the very rumor of attack. ¹⁸ Then, if you still refuse to obey me, I will punish you seven times for each of your sins, ¹⁹ until your pride is completely crushed. I will hold back the rain, so the sky above you will be like iron, and the ground beneath your feet will be like copper. ²⁰ All of your hard work will be for nothing — and there will be no harvest of grain or fruit. ²¹ If you keep rebelling against me, I’ll punish you seven times worse, just as your sins deserve! ²² I’ll send wild animals to attack you, and they will gobble down your children and livestock. So few of you will be left that your roads will be deserted. ²³ If you remain my enemies after this, ²⁴ I’ll remain your enemy and punish you even worse. ²⁵ War will break out because you broke our agreement, and if you escape to your walled cities, I’ll punish you with horrible diseases, and you will be captured by your enemies. ²⁶ You will have such a shortage of bread, that ten women will be able to bake their bread in the same oven. Each of you will get only a few crumbs, and you will go hungry. ²⁷ Then if you don’t stop rebelling, ²⁸ I’ll really get furious and punish you terribly for your sins! ²⁹ In fact, you will be so desperate for food that you will eat your own children. ³⁰ I’ll destroy your shrines and tear down your incense altars, leaving your dead bodies piled on top of your idols. And you will be disgusting to me. ³¹ I’ll wipe out your towns and your places of worship and will no longer be pleased with the smell of your sacrifices. ³² Your land will become so desolate that even your enemies who settle there will be shocked when they see it. ³³ After I destroy your towns and ruin your land with war, I’ll scatter you among the nations. ^34-35 While you are prisoners in foreign lands, your own land will enjoy years of rest and refreshment, as it should have done each seventh year when you lived there. ^36-37 In the land of your enemies, you will tremble at the rustle of a leaf, as though it were a sword. And you will become so weak that you will stumble and fall over each other, even when no one is chasing you. ³⁸ Many of you will die in foreign lands, ³⁹ and others of you will waste away in sorrow as the result of your sins and the sins of your ancestors. ^40-41 Then suppose you realize that I turned against you and brought you to the land of your enemies because both you and your ancestors had stubbornly sinned against me. If you humbly confess what you have done and start living right, ⁴² I’ll keep the promise I made to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will bless your land ⁴³ and let it rest during the time that you are in a foreign country, paying for your rebellion against me and my laws. ⁴⁴ No matter what you have done, I am still the Lord your God, and I will never completely reject you or become absolutely disgusted with you there in the land of your enemies. ⁴⁵ While nations watched, I rescued your ancestors from Egypt so that I would be their God. Yes, I am your Lord, and I will never forget our agreement. ⁴⁶ Moses was on Mount Sinai when the Lord gave him these laws and teachings for the people of Israel.