The Wilderness Years

Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.

So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,

then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,

and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother.

If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him.

And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.

If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.

You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

If you build a new house, you are to construct a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.

Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled—both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard.