Justice, Kindness, and the God Who Sees All

1. When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2. When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3. If the latter husband hates her, and write her a bill of divorce, and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; 4. her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. 5. When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken. 6. No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge; for he takes a life in pledge. 7. If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him; then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 8. Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do. 9. Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt. 10. When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge outside to you. 12. If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. 13. You shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you. It shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God. 14. You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers, or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates. 15. In his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you. 16. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17. You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge; 18. but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you there. Therefore I command you to do this thing. 19. When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21. When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing. 1. If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 2. It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. 3. He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more; lest, if he should give more, and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight. 4. You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain. 5. If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel. 7. If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.” 8. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he stands and says, “I don’t want to take her”; 9. then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall answer and say, “So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.” 10. His name shall be called in Israel, “The house of him who had his shoe removed.” 11. When men strive against each other, and the wife of one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts out her hand, and takes him by his private parts, 12. then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 13. You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. 14. You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. 15. You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 16. For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God. 17. Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt; 18. how he met you by the way, and struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God. 19. Therefore it shall be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. You shall not forget. 1. It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2. that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 3. You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.” 4. The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Yahweh your God’s altar. 5. You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6. The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7. Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8. Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9. and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10. Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God. 11. You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you. 12. When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled. 13. You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 14. I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 16. Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17. You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. 18. Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. 19. He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken. 1. Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 2. It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. 3. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over; that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4. It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster. 5. There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. 6. You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God. 7. You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God. 8. You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.” 9. Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent, and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God. 10. You shall therefore obey Yahweh your God’s voice, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” 11. Moses commanded the people the same day, saying, 12. “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13. These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14. With a loud voice, the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel, 15. ‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ 16. ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 17. ‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 18. ‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 19. ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 20. ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 21. ‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 22. ‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 23. ‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 24. ‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 25. ‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 26. ‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

1. The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.

1. Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. 2. He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. 3. He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind. 4. He makes his messengers winds; his servants flames of fire. 5. He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever. 6. You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains. 7. At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away. 8. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them. 9. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they don’t turn again to cover the earth. 10. He sends springs into the valleys. They run among the mountains. 11. They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12. The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches. 13. He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works. 14. He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: 15. wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart. 16. Yahweh’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted; 17. where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the cypress trees. 18. The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. 19. He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set. 20. You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl. 21. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. 22. The sun rises, and they steal away, and lay down in their dens. 23. Man goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening. 24. Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches. 25. There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals. 26. There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there. 27. These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. 28. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. 29. You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust. 30. You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground. 31. Let Yahweh’s glory endure forever. Let Yahweh rejoice in his works. 32. He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33. I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. 34. Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in Yahweh. 35. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless Yahweh, my soul. Praise Yah!