The Wilderness Years

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.