【Holy Bible】Message Deuteronomy

latebird

Chapter 10

1 God responded. He said, "Shape two slabs of stone similar to the first ones. Climb the mountain and meet me. Also make yourself a wooden chest. 2 I will engrave the stone slabs with the words that were on the first ones, the ones you smashed. Then you will put them in the Chest." 3 So I made a chest out of acacia wood, shaped two slabs of stone, just like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two slabs in my arms. 4 He engraved the stone slabs the same as he had the first ones, the Ten Words that he addressed to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. Then God gave them to me. 5 I turned around and came down the mountain. I put the stone slabs in the Chest that I made and they've been there ever since, just as God commanded me.
6 The People of Israel went from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest. 7 From there they went to Gudgodah, and then to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. 8 That's when God set apart the tribe of Levi to carry God's Covenant Chest, to be on duty in the Presence of God, to serve him, and to bless in his name, as they continue to do today. 9 And that's why Levites don't have a piece of inherited land as their kinsmen do. God is their inheritance, as God, your God, promised them. 10 I stayed there on the mountain forty days and nights, just as I did the first time. And God listened to me, just as he did the first time: God decided not to destroy you. 11 God told me, "Now get going. Lead your people as they resume the journey to take possession of the land that I promised their ancestors that I'd give to them." 12 So now Israel, what do you think God expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve God, your God, with everything you have in you, 13 obey the commandments and regulations of God that I'm commanding you today—live a good life. 14 Look around you: Everything you see is God's—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. 15 But it was your ancestors that God fell in love with; he picked their children—that's you!—out of all the other peoples. That's where we are right now. 16 So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. 17 God, your God, is the God of all gods, he's the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn't play favorites, takes no bribes, 18 makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.
19 You must treat foreigners with the same loving care— remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt. 20 Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him, back up your promises with the authority of his name. 21 He's your praise! He's your God! He did all these tremendous, these staggering things that you saw with your own eyes.
22 When your ancestors entered Egypt, they numbered a mere seventy souls. And now look at you—you look more like the stars in the night skies in number. And your God did it.

Deut 10:1-22 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 11

1 So love God, your God; guard well his rules and regulations; obey his commandments for the rest of time.
2 Today it's very clear that it isn't your children who are front and center here: They weren't in on what God did, didn't see the acts, didn't experience the discipline, didn't marvel at his greatness, the way he displayed his power in the miracle-signs and deeds 3 that he let loose in Egypt on Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land, 4 the way he took care of the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, burying them in the waters of the Red Sea as they pursued you. God drowned them. And you're standing here today alive. 5 Nor was it your children who saw how God took care of you in the wilderness up until the time you arrived here, 6 what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the Earth opened its jaws and swallowed them with their families—their tents, and everything around them—right out of the middle of Israel. 7 Yes, it was you—your eyes—that saw every great thing that God did. 8 So it's you who are in charge of keeping the entire commandment that I command you today so that you'll have the strength to invade and possess the land that you are crossing the river to make your own. 9 Your obedience will give you a long life on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 The land you are entering to take up ownership isn't like Egypt, the land you left, where you had to plant your own seed and water it yourselves as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are about to cross the river and take for your own is a land of mountains and valleys; it drinks water that rains from the sky. 12 It's a land that God, your God, personally tends—he's the gardener—he alone keeps his eye on it all year long. 13 From now on if you listen obediently to the commandments that I am commanding you today, love God, your God, and serve him with everything you have within you, 14 he'll take charge of sending the rain at the right time, both autumn and spring rains, so that you'll be able to harvest your grain, your grapes, your olives. 15 He'll make sure there's plenty of grass for your animals. You'll have plenty to eat. 16 But be vigilant, lest you be seduced away and end up serving and worshiping other gods 17 and God erupts in anger and shuts down Heaven so there's no rain and nothing grows in the fields, and in no time at all you're starved out—not a trace of you left on the good land that God is giving you. 18 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. 20 Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities 21 so that you'll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth. 22 That's right. If you diligently keep all this commandment that I command you to obey—love God, your God, do what he tells you, stick close to him— 23 God on his part will drive out all these nations that stand in your way. Yes, he'll drive out nations much bigger and stronger than you. 24 Every square inch on which you place your foot will be yours. Your borders will stretch from the wilderness to the mountains of Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand in your way. Everywhere you go, God-sent fear and trembling will precede you, just as he promised. 26 I've brought you today to the crossroads of Blessing and Curse. 27 The Blessing: if you listen obediently to the commandments of God, your God, which I command you today. 28 The Curse: if you don't pay attention to the commandments of God, your God, but leave the road that I command you today, following other gods of which you know nothing. 29 Here's what comes next: When God, your God, brings you into the land you are going into to make your own, you are to give out the Blessing from Mount Gerizim and the Curse from Mount Ebal. 30 After you cross the Jordan River, follow the road to the west through Canaanite settlements in the valley near Gilgal and the Oaks of Moreh. 31 You are crossing the Jordan River to invade and take the land that God, your God, is giving you. 32 Be vigilant. Observe all the regulations and rules I am setting before you today.

Deut 11:1-32 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 12

1 These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess. 2 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you're driving out worship their gods—wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees. 3 Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites. 4 Stay clear of those places—don't let what went on there contaminate the worship of God, your God. 5 Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there. 6 Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 Feast there in the Presence of God, your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God, your God. 8 Don't continue doing things the way we're doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish. 9 Until now you haven't arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God, your God, is giving you. 10 But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he'll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You'll be able to settle down and live in safety. 11 From then on, at the place that God, your God, chooses to mark with his name as the place where you can meet him, bring everything that I command you: your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, tithes and Tribute-Offerings, and the best of your Vow-Offerings that you vow to God. 12 Celebrate there in the Presence of God, your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and maids, including the Levite living in your neighborhood because he has no place of his own in your inheritance. 13 Be extra careful: Don't offer your Absolution-Offerings just any place that strikes your fancy. 14 Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you. 15 It's permissible to slaughter your nonsacrificial animals like gazelle and deer in your towns and eat all you want from them with the blessing of God, your God. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat. 16 But you may not eat the blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water. 17 Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings. 18 All these you must eat in the Presence of God, your God, in the place God, your God, chooses—you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God, your God, all the things you've been able to accomplish. 19 And make sure that for as long as you live on your land you never, never neglect the Levite. 20 When God, your God, expands your territory as he promised he would do, and you say, "I'm hungry for meat," because you happen to be craving meat at the time, go ahead and eat as much meat as you want. 21 If you're too far away from the place that God, your God, has marked with his name, it's all right to slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that God has given you, as I've commanded you. In your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. 22 Just as the nonsacrificial animals like the gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat them; the ritually unclean and clean may eat them at the same table. 23 Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don't eat the blood. Blood is life; don't eat the life with the meat. 24 Don't eat it; pour it out on the ground like water. 25 Don't eat it; then you'll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God's eyes. 26 And this: Lift high your Holy-Offerings and your Vow-Offerings and bring them to the place God designates. 27 Sacrifice your Absolution-Offerings, the meat and blood, on the Altar of God, your God; pour out the blood of the Absolution-Offering on the Altar of God, your God; then you can go ahead and eat the meat. 28 Be vigilant, listen obediently to these words that I command you so that you'll have a good life, you and your children, for a long, long time, doing what is good and right in the eyes of God, your God. 29 When God, your God, cuts off the nations whose land you are invading, shoves them out of your way so that you displace them and settle in their land, 30 be careful that you don't get curious about them after they've been destroyed before you. Don't get fascinated with their gods, thinking, "I wonder what it was like for them, worshiping their gods. I'd like to try that myself." 31 Don't do this to God, your God. They commit every imaginable abomination with their gods. God hates it all with a passion. Why, they even set their children on fire as offerings to their gods! 32 Diligently do everything I command you, the way I command you: don't add to it; don't subtract from it.

Deut 12:1-32 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 13

1 When a prophet or visionary gets up in your community and gives out a miracle-sign or wonder, 2 and the miracle-sign or wonder that he gave out happens and he says, "Let's follow other gods" (these are gods you know nothing about), "let's worship them," 3 don't pay any attention to what that prophet or visionary says. God, your God, is testing you to find out if you totally love him with everything you have in you. 4 You are to follow only God, your God, hold him in deep reverence, keep his commandments, listen obediently to what he says, serve him—hold on to him for dear life! 5 And that prophet or visionary must be put to death. He has urged mutiny against God, your God, who rescued you from Egypt, who redeemed you from a world of slavery and put you on the road on which God, your God, has commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from your company. 6 And when your brother or son or daughter, or even your dear wife or lifelong friend, comes to you in secret and whispers, "Let's go and worship some other gods" (gods that you know nothing about, neither you nor your ancestors, 7 the gods of the peoples around you near and far, from one end of the Earth to the other), 8 don't go along with him; shut your ears. Don't feel sorry for him and don't make excuses for him. 9 Kill him. That's right, kill him. You throw the first stone. Take action at once and swiftly with everybody in the community getting in on it at the end. 10 Stone him with stones so that he dies. He tried to turn you traitor against God, your God, the one who got you out of Egypt and the world of slavery. 11 Every man, woman, and child in Israel will hear what's been done and be in awe. No one will dare to do an evil thing like this again. 12 When word comes in from one of your cities that God, your God, is giving you to live in, 13 reporting that evil men have gotten together with some of the citizens of the city and have broken away, saying, "Let's go and worship other gods" (gods you know nothing about), 14 then you must conduct a careful examination. Ask questions, investigate. If it turns out that the report is true and this abomination did in fact take place in your community, 15 you must execute the citizens of that town. Kill them, setting that city apart for holy destruction: the city and everything in it including its animals. 16 Gather the plunder in the middle of the town square and burn it all—town and plunder together up in smoke, a holy sacrifice to God, your God. Leave it there, ashes and ruins. Don't build on that site again. 17 And don't let any of the plunder devoted to holy destruction stick to your fingers. Get rid of it so that God may turn from anger to compassion, generously making you prosper, just as he promised your ancestors. 18 Yes. Obediently listen to God, your God. Keep all his commands that I am giving you today. Do the right thing in the eyes of God, your God.

Deut 13:1-18 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 14

1 You are children of God, your God, so don't mutilate your bodies or shave your heads in funeral rites for the dead. 2 You only are a people holy to God, your God; God chose you out of all the people on Earth as his cherished personal treasure. 3 Don't eat anything abominable. 4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, sheep, goat, 5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, mountain sheep— 6 any animal that has a cloven hoof and chews the cud. 7 But you may not eat camels, rabbits, and rock badgers because they chew the cud but they don't have a cloven hoof—that makes them ritually unclean. 8 And pigs: Don't eat pigs—they have a cloven hoof but don't chew the cud, which makes them ritually unclean. Don't even touch a pig's carcass. 9 This is what you may eat from the water: anything that has fins and scales. 10 But if it doesn't have fins or scales, you may not eat it. It's ritually unclean. 11 You may eat any ritually clean bird. 12 These are the exceptions, so don't eat these: eagle, vulture, black vulture, 13 kite, falcon, the buzzard family, 14 the raven family, 15 ostrich, nighthawk, the hawk family, 16 little owl, great owl, white owl, 17 pelican, osprey, cormorant, 18 stork, the heron family, hoopoe, bat. 19 Winged insects are ritually unclean; don't eat them. 20 But ritually clean winged creatures are permitted. 21 Because you are a people holy to God, your God, don't eat anything that you find dead. You can, though, give it to a foreigner in your neighborhood for a meal or sell it to a foreigner. Don't boil a kid in its mother's milk. 22 Make an offering of ten percent, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year. 23 Bring this into the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there eat the tithe from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way you will learn to live in deep reverence before God, your God, as long as you live. 24 But if the place God, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can't carry your tithe that far, God, your God, will still bless you: 25 exchange your tithe for money and take the money to the place God, your God, has chosen to be worshiped. 26 Use the money to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer—anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of God, your God, and have a good time. 27 Meanwhile, don't forget to take good care of the Levites who live in your towns; they won't get any property or inheritance of their own as you will. 28 At the end of every third year, gather the tithe from all your produce of that year and put it aside in storage. 29 Keep it in reserve for the Levite who won't get any property or inheritance as you will, and for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your neighborhood. That way they'll have plenty to eat and God, your God, will bless you in all your work.

Deut 14:1-29 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 15

1 At the end of every seventh year, cancel all debts. 2 This is the procedure: Everyone who has lent money to a neighbor writes it off. You must not press your neighbor or his brother for payment: All-Debts-Are-Canceled—God says so. 3 You may collect payment from foreigners, but whatever you have lent to your fellow Israelite you must write off. 4 There must be no poor people among you because God is going to bless you lavishly in this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, your very own land. 5 But only if you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, diligently observing every commandment that I command you today. 6 Oh yes—God, your God, will bless you just as he promised. You will lend to many nations but won't borrow from any; you'll rule over many nations but none will rule over you. 7 When you happen on someone who's in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don't look the other way pretending you don't see him. Don't keep a tight grip on your purse. 8 No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. 9 Don't count the cost. Don't listen to that selfish voice saying, "It's almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled," and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He'll call God's attention to you and your blatant sin. 10 Give freely and spontaneously. Don't have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God's, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. 11 There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors. 12 If a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman was sold to you and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you must set him or her free, released into a free life. 13 And when you set them free don't send them off empty-handed. 14 Provide them with some animals, plenty of bread and wine and oil. Load them with provisions from all the blessings with which God, your God, has blessed you. 15 Don't for a minute forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, redeemed you from that slave world. For that reason, this day I command you to do this. 16 But if your slave, because he loves you and your family and has a good life with you, says, "I don't want to leave you," 17 then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the doorpost, marking him as your slave forever. Do the same with your women slaves who want to stay with you. 18 Don't consider this an unreasonable hardship, this setting your slave free. After all, he's worked six years for you at half the cost of a hired hand. Believe me, God, your God, will bless you in everything you do.
19 Consecrate to God, your God, all the firstborn males in your herds and flocks. Don't use the firstborn from your herds as work animals; don't shear the firstborn from your flocks. 20 These are for you to eat every year, you and your family, in the Presence of God, your God, at the place that God designates for worship. 21 If the animal is defective, lame, say, or blind—anything wrong with it—don't slaughter it as a sacrifice to God, your God. 22 Stay at home and eat it there. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat it, the same as with a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you must not eat its blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water.

Deut 15:1-23 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 16

1 Observe the month of Abib by celebrating the Passover to God, your God. It was in the month of Abib that God, your God, delivered you by night from Egypt. 2 Offer the Passover-Sacrifice to God, your God, at the place God chooses to be worshiped by establishing his name there. 3 Don't eat yeast bread with it; for seven days eat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry—that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt for as long as you live. 4 There is to be no sign of yeast anywhere for seven days. And don't let any of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening be left over until morning. 5 Don't sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns that God, your God, gives you 6 other than the one God, your God, designates for worship; there and there only you will offer the Passover-Sacrifice at evening as the sun goes down, marking the time that you left Egypt. 7 Boil and eat it at the place designated by God, your God. Then, at daybreak, turn around and go home. 8 Eat unraised bread for six days. Set aside the seventh day as a holiday; don't do any work. 9 Starting from the day you put the sickle to the ripe grain, count out seven weeks. 10 Celebrate the Feast-of-Weeks to God, your God, by bringing your Freewill-Offering—give as generously as God, your God, has blessed you. 11 Rejoice in the Presence of God, your God: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite who lives in your neighborhood, the foreigner, the orphan and widow among you; rejoice at the place God, your God, will set aside to be worshiped. 12 Don't forget that you were once a slave in Egypt. So be diligent in observing these regulations. 13 Observe the Feast-of-Booths for seven days when you gather the harvest from your threshing-floor and your wine-vat. 14 Rejoice at your festival: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite, the foreigner, and the orphans and widows who live in your neighborhood. 15 Celebrate the Feast to God, your God, for seven days at the place God designates. God, your God, has been blessing you in your harvest and in all your work, so make a day of it—really celebrate! 16 All your men must appear before God, your God, three times each year at the place he designates: at the Feast-of-Unraised-Bread (Passover), at the Feast-of-Weeks, and at the Feast-of-Booths. No one is to show up in the Presence of God empty-handed; 17 each man must bring as much as he can manage, giving generously in response to the blessings of God, your God.
18 Appoint judges and officers, organized by tribes, in all the towns that God, your God, is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly and honestly. 19 Don't twist the law. Don't play favorites. Don't take a bribe—a bribe blinds even a wise person; it undermines the intentions of the best of people. 20 The right! The right! Pursue only what's right! It's the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you.
21 Don't plant fertility Asherah trees alongside the Altar of God, your God, that you build. 22 Don't set up phallic sex pillars—God, your God, hates them.

Deut 16:1-22 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 17

1 And don't sacrifice to God, your God, an ox or sheep that is defective or has anything at all wrong with it. That's an abomination, an insult to God, your God.
2 If you find anyone within the towns that God, your God, is giving you doing what is wrong in God's eyes, breaking his covenant 3 by going off to worship other gods, bowing down to them—the sun, say, or the moon, or any rebel sky-gods— 4 look at the evidence and investigate carefully. If you find that it is true, that, in fact, an abomination has been committed in Israel, 5 then you are to take the man or woman who did this evil thing outside your city gates and stone the man or the woman. Hurl stones at the person until dead. 6 But only on the testimony of two or three witnesses may a person be put to death. No one may be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 The witnesses must throw the first stones in the execution, then the rest of the community joins in. You have to purge the evil from your community. 8 When matters of justice come up that are too much for you—hard cases regarding homicides, legal disputes, fights—take them up to the central place of worship that God, your God, has designated. 9 Bring them to the Levitical priests and the judge who is in office at the time. Consult them and they will hand down the decision for you. 10 Then carry out their verdict at the place designated by God, your God. Do what they tell you, in exactly the way they tell you. 11 Follow their instructions precisely: Don't leave out anything; don't add anything. 12 Anyone who presumes to override or twist the decision handed down by the priest or judge who was acting in the Presence of God, your God, is as good as dead—root him out, rid Israel of the evil. 13 Everyone will take notice and be impressed. That will put an end to presumptuous behavior.
14 When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you and take it over and settle down, and then say, "I'm going to get me a king, a king like all the nations around me," 15 make sure you get yourself a king whom God, your God, chooses. Choose your king from among your kinsmen; don't take a foreigner—only a kinsman. 16 And make sure he doesn't build up a war machine, amassing military horses and chariots. He must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because God told you, "You'll never go back there again!" 17 And make sure he doesn't build up a harem, collecting wives who will divert him from the straight and narrow. And make sure he doesn't pile up a lot of silver and gold. 18 This is what must be done: When he sits down on the throne of his kingdom, the first thing he must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation on a scroll, copied under the supervision of the Levitical priests. 19 That scroll is to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so that he may learn what it means to fear his God, living in reverent obedience before these rules and regulations by following them. 20 He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign as king in Israel, he and his sons.

Deut 17:1-20 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 18

1 The Levitical priests—that's the entire tribe of Levi—don't get any land-inheritance with the rest of Israel. They get the Fire-Gift-Offerings of God—they will live on that inheritance. 2 But they don't get land-inheritance like the rest of their kinsmen. God is their inheritance. 3 This is what the priests get from the people from any offering of an ox or a sheep: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You must also give them the firstfruits of your grain, wine, and oil and the first fleece of your sheep, 5 because God, your God, has chosen only them and their children out of all your tribes to be present and serve always in the name of God, your God. 6 If a Levite moves from any town in Israel—and he is quite free to move wherever he desires—and comes to the place God designates for worship, 7 he may serve there in the name of God along with all his brother Levites who are present and serving in the Presence of God. 8 And he will get an equal share to eat, even though he has money from the sale of his parents' possessions.
9 When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, don't take on the abominable ways of life of the nations there. 10 Don't you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don't practice divination, sorcery, fortunetelling, witchery, 11 casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead. 12 People who do these things are an abomination to God. It's because of just such abominable practices that God, your God, is driving these nations out before you. 13 Be completely loyal to God, your God. 14 These nations that you're about to run out of the country consort with sorcerers and witches. But not you. God, your God, forbids it. 15 God, your God, is going to raise up a prophet for you. God will raise him up from among your kinsmen, a prophet like me. Listen obediently to him. 16 This is what you asked God, your God, for at Horeb on the day you were all gathered at the mountain and said, "We can't hear any more from God, our God; we can't stand seeing any more fire. We'll die!" 17 And God said to me, "They're right; they've spoken the truth. 18 I'll raise up for them a prophet like you from their kinsmen. I'll tell him what to say and he will pass on to them everything I command him. 19 And anyone who won't listen to my words spoken by him, I will personally hold responsible. 20 "But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven't commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die." 21 You may be wondering among yourselves, "How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?" Here's how: 22 If what the prophet spoke in God's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.

Deut 18:1-22 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 19

1 When God, your God, throws the nations out of the country that God, your God, is giving you and you settle down in their cities and houses, 2 you are to set aside three easily accessible cities in the land that God, your God, is giving you as your very own. 3 Divide your land into thirds, this land that God, your God, is giving you to possess, and build roads to the towns so that anyone who accidentally kills another can flee there. 4 This is the guideline for the murderer who flees there to take refuge: He has to have killed his neighbor without premeditation and with no history of bad blood between them. 5 For instance, a man goes with his neighbor into the woods to cut a tree; he swings the ax, the head slips off the handle and hits his neighbor, killing him. He may then flee to one of these cities and save his life. 6 If the city is too far away, the avenger of blood racing in hot-blooded pursuit might catch him since it's such a long distance, and kill him even though he didn't deserve it. It wasn't his fault. There was no history of hatred between them. 7 Therefore I command you: Set aside the three cities for yourselves. 8 When God, your God, enlarges your land, extending its borders as he solemnly promised your ancestors, by giving you the whole land he promised them 9 because you are diligently living the way I'm commanding you today, namely, to love God, your God, and do what he tells you all your life; and when that happens, then add three more to these three cities 10 so that there is no chance of innocent blood being spilled in your land. God, your God, is giving you this land as an inheritance—you don't want to pollute it with innocent blood and bring bloodguilt upon yourselves. 11 On the other hand, if a man with a history of hatred toward his neighbor waits in ambush, then jumps him, mauls and kills him, and then runs to one of these cities, that's a different story. 12 The elders of his own city are to send for him and have him brought back. They are to hand him over to the avenger of blood for execution. 13 Don't feel sorry for him. Clean out the pollution of wrongful murder from Israel so that you'll be able to live well and breathe clean air.
14 Don't move your neighbor's boundary markers, the longstanding landmarks set up by your pioneer ancestors defining their property.
15 You cannot convict anyone of a crime or sin on the word of one witness. You need two or three witnesses to make a case. 16 If a hostile witness stands to accuse someone of a wrong, 17 then both parties involved in the quarrel must stand in the Presence of God before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. 18 The judges must conduct a careful investigation; if the witness turns out to be a false witness and has lied against his fellow Israelite, 19 give him the same medicine he intended for the other party. Clean the polluting evil from your company. 20 People will hear of what you've done and be impressed; that will put a stop to this kind of evil among you. 21 Don't feel sorry for the person: It's life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deut 19:1-21 (MSG)