Justice and Mercy 1 UST Do not speak falsely in court. Do not help an evil man by testifying maliciously. BSB BSB: “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.
2 UST Do not join a group of people who are planning to do something evil. Do not tell the same lies they do and so keep the judge from deciding the case justly. BSB BSB: You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
3 UST Do not prefer someone in court just because he is poor. BSB BSB: And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4 UST If you see someone’ s bull or donkey when it is wandering away loose, take it back to its owner even if the owner is your enemy. BSB BSB: If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
5 UST If you see someone’ s donkey that has fallen down because of its heavy load, help the owner to get the donkey up again even if he is someone who hates you. Do not just walk away without helping him. BSB BSB: If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it.
6 UST Decide the cases of poor people who are on trial as fairly as you judge the cases of other people. BSB BSB: You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
7 UST Do not deceive others. Do not kill guiltless or upright people, because I will not say that evil people are good. BSB BSB: Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.
8 UST Do not accept a bribe, because good judges who take bribes do not judge wisely, and they unfairly judge against the person who is right. BSB BSB: Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.
9 UST Do not mistreat foreigners who live among you. You know how foreigners often feel, because you lived as foreigners in Egypt. BSB BSB: Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Sabbath Laws (Leviticus 25:1–7; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)
10 UST For six years, plant seeds in your ground and gather the harvest. BSB BSB: For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,
11 UST But in the seventh year you must leave the ground fallow. Allow your poor countrymen to eat{ what grows on its own}. Whatever is left over is for the wild animals to eat. Do the same thing with your grapevine and your olive trees. BSB BSB: but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.
12 UST You may work for six days each week, but on the seventh day you must rest and not work. Do this so that your ox and donkey may rest. The rest day will also let your slaves and the foreigners who live among you recuperate. BSB BSB: For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.
13 UST Make certain that you obey everything that I have commanded you to do. Do not pray to other gods. Do not even mention their names. BSB BSB: Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.
The Three Feasts of Pilgrimage (Leviticus 23:1–3)
14 UST Every year you must travel to three celebrations to honor me: BSB BSB: Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
15 UST Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread the way that I commanded you: eat unleavened bread for seven days in the month called Aviv. I set this time because it is the month when you left Egypt. Always bring me an offering when you come to worship me. BSB BSB: You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.
17 UST These three times every year, all the men must gather together to worship me, the Lord Yahweh. BSB BSB: Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
18 UST Do not sacrifice bread you made with yeast along with blood from an animal sacrifice. Do not keep the fat from the animals you sacrificed at my celebration until the next morning.{ Burn it completely.} BSB BSB: You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.
19 UST { Each year, when you harvest your crops,} take the best of what you harvest first, go to the place where you worship me, and give it to me, Yahweh your God.{ When you kill} a young animal, do not cook it by boiling it in its mother’ s milk. BSB BSB: Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
God’s Angel to Lead (Deuteronomy 7:12–26)
20 UST Look! I am going to send an angel ahead of you to guard you as you travel and to lead you to the place that I have made ready for you. BSB BSB: Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
21 UST Respect and obey him. Do not make him angry, because he will not forgive your sin, because my authority and presence is in him. BSB BSB: Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.
22 UST But if you obey his commands well and if you do all that I tell you to do, I will fight against all of your enemies and adversaries. BSB BSB: But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.
23 UST Then my angel will go ahead of you and will take you to where the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites live, and I will completely get rid of them. BSB BSB: For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.
24 UST Do not bow down before their gods or worship them. Do not do the things that they{ think that their gods want them to} do. Instead, destroy{ their gods} and smash to pieces their sacred stones. BSB BSB: You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
25 UST You must worship me, Yahweh your God. If you do that, I will bless your food and water, and I will protect you from becoming sick. BSB BSB: So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.
26 UST No women in your land will have miscarriages, and no women will be unable to become pregnant. I will enable you to live a long time. BSB BSB: No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.
27 UST { I will go} ahead of you and terrify and confuse all the people into whose{ lands} you are going.{ When you fight} your enemies, I will make them run away from you. BSB BSB: I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.
28 UST I will send wasps ahead of you who will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and the Hittites from your land. BSB BSB: I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
29 UST I will not remove all of them in less than one year. If I did that, your land would become deserted, and there would be very many wild animals that would attack you. BSB BSB: I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.
30 UST I will remove those people groups slowly, a few at a time, until the number of your people increases and you are able to live everywhere in the land. BSB BSB: Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.
31 UST I will make your country’ s borders be from the Sea of Reeds{ in the southeast} to the sea by the Philistines{ in the northwest}, and from the wilderness{ in the southwest} to the{ Euphrates} River{ in the northeast of the country}. I will give you the power to remove the people who live there, so that you will remove them as you occupy more of the country. BSB BSB: And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
32 UST You must not make any agreement with those people or with their gods. BSB BSB: You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
33 UST Do not allow those people to live in your land, so they do not cause you to sin against me by enticing you to worship their gods.” BSB BSB: They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”