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Hebrew / JewishChristianity
According to al that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assemblie, when thou saidest, Let me heare the voice of my Lord God no more, nor see this great fire any more, that I die not.
And the Lord sayde vnto me, They haue well spoken.
I will raise them vp a Prophet from among their brethren like vnto thee, and will put my woordes in his mouth, and he shall speake vnto them all that I shall commaund him.
And whosoeuer will not hearken vnto my wordes, which he shall speake in my Name, I will require it of him.
But the prophet that shall presume to speake a worde in my name, which I haue not commanded him to speake, or that speaketh in the name of other gods, euen the same prophet shall die.
And if thou thinke in thine heart, Howe shall we knowe the worde which the Lord hath not spoken?
When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to passe, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not therefore be afraid of him.
When the Lord thy God shall roote out the nations, whose lande the Lord thy God giueth thee, and thou shalt possesse them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses,
Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the middes of thy lande which the Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it.
Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and deuide the coastes of the land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to inherite, into three parts, that euery manslayer may flee thither.
This also is ye cause wherfore the manslayer shall flee thither, and liue: who so killeth his neighbor ignorantly, and hated him not in time passed:
As hee that goeth vnto the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand striketh with the axe to cut downe the tree, if the head slip from the helue, and hit his neighbour that he dieth, the same shall flee vnto one of the cities, and liue,
Least the auenger of the blood follow after the manslayer, while his heart is chafed, and ouertake him, because the way is long, and slaie him, although he be not worthy of death, because he hated him not in time passed.
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt appoint out three cities for thee.
And when the Lord thy God enlargeth thy coastes (as he hath sworne vnto thy fathers) and giueth thee all the lande which he promised to giue vnto thy fathers,
(If thou keepe all these commandements to doe them, which I commaund thee this day: to wit, that thou loue the Lord thy God, and walke in his waies for euer) then shalt thou adde three cities moe for thee besides those three,
That innocent bloude be not shed within thy land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to inherite, lest bloud be vpon thee.
But if a man hate his neighbour, and lay waite for him, and rise against him, and smite any man that he die, and flee vnto any of these cities,
Then the Elders of his citie shall send and set him thence, and deliuer him into the hands of the auenger of the blood, that he may die.
Thine eye shall not spare him, but thou shalt put away the crie of innocent blood from Israel, that it may goe well with thee.
Thou shalt not remooue thy neighbours marke, which they of olde time haue set in thine inheritance, that thou shalt inherite in the lande, which ye Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it.
One witnes shall not rise against a man for any trespasse, or for any sinne, or for any fault that hee offendeth in, but at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be stablished.
If a false witnesse rise vp against a man to accuse him of trespasse,
Then both the men which striue together, shall stand before ye Lord, euen before the Priests and the Iudges, which shall be in those daies,
And the Iudges shall make diligent inquisition: and if the witnesse be found false, and hath giuen false witnes against his brother,
Then shall yee doe vnto him as hee had thought to doe vnto his brother: so thou shalt take euil away forth of the middes of thee.
And the rest shall heare this, and feare, and shall henceforth commit no more any such wickednes among you.
Therefore thine eye shall have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foote for foote.
When thou shalt go forth to warre against thine enemies, and shalt see horses and charets, and people moe then thou, be not afrayde of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
And when ye are come neere vnto the battel, then the Priest shall come forth to speake vnto the people,
And shall say vnto them, Heare, O Israel: ye are come this day vnto battell against your enemies: let not your heartes faynt, neither feare, nor be amased, nor adread of them.
For ye Lord your God goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, and to saue you
And let the officers speake vnto the people, saying, What man is there that hath buylt a new house, and hath not dedicate it? let him go and returne to his house, least he dye in the battel, and an other man dedicate it.
And what man is there that hath planted a vineyarde, and hath not eaten of the fruite? let him go and returne againe vnto his house, least he die in the battel, and another eate the fruite.
And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and returne againe vnto his house, lest he die in the battell, and another man take her.
And let the officers speake further vnto the people, and say, Whosoeuer is afrayde and faynt hearted, let him go and returne vnto his house, least his brethrens heart faynt like his heart.
And after that the officers haue made an ende of speaking vnto the people, they shall make captaines of the armie to gouerne the people.
When thou commest neere vnto a citie to fight against it, thou shalt offer it peace.
And if it answere thee againe peaceably, and open vnto thee, then let all the people that is founde therein, be tributaries vnto thee, and serue thee.
But if it will make no peace with thee, but make war against thee, then shalt thou besiege it.
And the Lord thy God shall deliuer it into thine handes, and thou shalt smite all the males thereof with the edge of the sworde.
Onely the women, and the children, and the cattel, and all that is in the citie, euen all the spoyle thereof shalt thou take vnto thy selfe, and shalt eate the spoyle of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath giuen thee.
Thus shalt thou do vnto all ye cities, which are a great way off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations here.
But of the cities of this people, which the Lord thy God shall giue thee to inherite, thou shalt saue no person aliue,
But shalt vtterly destroy them: to wit, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee,
That they teache you not to doe after all their abominations, which they haue done vnto their gods, and so ye should sinne against the Lord your God.
When thou hast besieged a citie long time, and made warre against it to take it, destroy not the trees therof, by smiting an axe into them: for thou mayest eate of them: therfore thou shalt not cut them downe to further thee in the siege, (for the tree of the field is mans life)
Onely those trees, which thou knowest are not for meate, those shalt thou destroy and cut downe, and make fortes against the citie that maketh warre with thee, vntil thou subdue it.
If one be founde slaine in the lande, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it, lying in the field, and it is not knowe who hath slaine him,
Then thine Elders and thy Iudges shall come forth, and measure vnto the cities that are round about him that is slayne.
Aud let ye Elders of that citie, which is next vnto the slaine man, take out of the droue an heifer that hath not bene put to labour, nor hath drawen in the yoke.
And let the Elders of that citie bring the heifer vnto a stonie valley, which is neyther eared nor sowen, and strike off the heifers necke there in the valley.
Also the Priests the sonnes of Leui (whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister, and to blesse in the name of the Lord) shall come forth, and by their word shall all strife and plague be tried.
And all the Elders of that citie that came neere to the slayne man, shall wash their hands ouer the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:
And shall testifie, and say, Our handes haue not shed this blood, neither haue our eies seene it.
O Lord, be mercifull vnto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay no innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel, and the blood shalbe forgiuen them.
So shalt thou take away the cry of innocet blood from thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
Whe thou shalt go to warre against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God shall deliuer them into thine hands, and thou shalt take the captiues,
And shalt see among the captiues a beautifull woman, and hast a desire vnto her, and wouldest take her to thy wife,
Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shaue her head, and pare her nayles,
And she shall put off the garment that shee was taken in, and she shall remaine in thine house, and bewaile her father and her mother a moneth long: and after that shalt thou go in vnto her, and marry her, and she shalbe thy wife.
And if thou haue no fauour vnto her, then thou mayest let her go whither she will, but thou shalt not sell her for money, nor make marchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.
If a man haue two wiues, one loued and another hated, and they haue borne him children, both the loued and also the hated: if the first borne be the sonne of the hated,
Then when the time commeth, that hee appointeth his sonnes to be heires of that which he hath, he may not make the sonne of the beloued first borne before the sonne of the hated, which is the first borne:
But he shall acknowledge the sonne of the hated for the first borne, and giue him double portion of all that he hath: for hee is the first of his strength, and to him belongeth the right of the first borne.
If any man haue a sonne that is stubburne and disobedient, which wil not hearken vnto the voice of his father, nor the voyce of his mother, and they haue chastened him, and he would not obey them,
Then shall his father and his mother take him, and bring him out vnto the Elders of his citie, and vnto the gate of the place where he dwelleth,
And shall say vnto the Elders of his citie, This our sonne is stubburne and disobedient, and he wil not obey our admonition: he is a riotour, and a drunkard.
Then all the men of his citie shall stone him with stones vnto death: so thou shalt take away euill from among you, that all Israel may heare it, and feare.
If a man also haue committed a trespasse worthy of death, and is put to death, and thou hangest him on a tree,
His body shall not remaine all night vpon the tree, but thou shalt bury him the same day: for the curse of God is on him that is hanged. Defile not therfore thy land which the Lord thy God giueth thee to inherite.
Thou shalt not see thy brothers oxe nor his sheepe go astray, and withdraw thy selfe from them, but shalt bring the againe vnto thy brother.
And if thy brother bee not neere vnto thee, or if thou knowe him not, then thou shalt bring it into thine house, and it shall remaine with thee, vntill thy brother seeke after it: then shalt thou deliuer it to him againe.
In like maner shalt thou do with his asse, and so shalt thou do with his rayment, and shalt so doe with all lost things of thy brother, which he hath lost: if thou hast found them, thou shalt not withdraw thy selfe from them.
Thou shalt not see thy brothers asse nor his oxe fal downe by the way, and withdrawe thy selfe from them, but shalt lift them vp with him.
The woman shall not weare that which perteineth vnto the man, neither shall a man put on womans rayment: for all that doe so, are abomination vnto the Lord thy God.
If thou finde a birdes nest in the way, in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be yong or egges, and the damme sitting vpon the yong, or vpon the egges, thou shalt not take ye damme with the yong,
But shalt in any wise let the damme go, and take the yong to thee, that thou mayest prosper and prolong thy dayes.
When thou buildest a newe house, thou shalt make a battlemet on thy roofe, that thou lay not blood vpon thine house, if any man fal thence.
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diuers kinds of seedes, lest thou defile the increase of the seede which thou hast sowen, and the fruite of the vineyarde.
Thou shalt not plow with an oxe and an asse together.
Thou shalt not weare a garment of diuers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.
Thou shalt make thee fringes vpon the foure quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou couerest thy selfe.
If a man take a wife, and when he hath lyen with her, hate her,
And laye slaunderous thinges vnto her charge, and bring vp an euill name vpon her, and say, I tooke this wife, and when I came to her, I found her not a mayde,
Then shall the father of the mayde and her mother take and bring the signes of the maydes virginitie vnto the Elders of the citie to the gate.
And the maydes father shall say vnto the Elders, I gaue my daughter vnto this man to wife, and he hateth her:
And lo, he layeth slaunderous things vnto her charge, saying, I founde not thy daughter a mayde: loe, these are the tokens of my daughters virginitie: and they shall spreade the vesture before the Elders of the citie.
Then the Elders of the citie shall take that man and chastise him,
And shall condemne him in an hundreth shekels of siluer, and giue them vnto the father of the mayde, because he hath brought vp an euill name vpon a mayde of Israel: and she shalbe his wife, and he may not put her away all his life.
But if this thing be true, that the mayde be not found a virgine,
Then shall they bring forth the mayde to the doore of her fathers house, and the men of her citie shall stone her with stones to death: for shee hath wrought follie in Israel, by playing ye whore in her fathers house: so thou shalt put euill away from among you.
If a man be found lying with a woman marryed to a man, then they shall dye euen both twaine: to wit, the man that lay with the wife, and the wife: so thou shalt put away euil from Israel.
If a maid be betrothed vnto an husband, and a man finde her in the towne and lye with her,
Then shall yee bring them both out vnto the gates of the same citie, and shall stone them with stones to death: the mayde because she cried not, being in the citie, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbours wife: so thou shalt put away euill from among you.
But if a man finde a betrothed mayde in the field, and force her, and lye with her, then the man that lay with her, shall dye alone:
And vnto the mayd thou shalt do nothing, because there is in the mayde no cause of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour and woundeth him to death, so is this matter.
For he found her in the fieldes: the betrothed mayde cryed, and there was no man to succour her.
If a man finde a mayde that is not betrothed, and take her, and lye with her, and they be founde,
Then the man that lay with her, shall giue vnto the maydes father fiftie shekels of siluer: and she shalbe his wife, because he hath humbled her: he can not put her away all his life.