Deuteronomy 14-20
Skip Heitzig
| Deuteronomy 14 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. |
| 2 | "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. |
| 3 | "You shall not eat any detestable thing. |
| 4 | "These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, |
| 5 | "the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. |
| 6 | "And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals. |
| 7 | "Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. |
| 8 | "Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses. |
| 9 | "These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. |
| 10 | "And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you. |
| 11 | "All clean birds you may eat. |
| 12 | "But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, |
| 13 | "the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; |
| 14 | "every raven after its kind; |
| 15 | "the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the seagull, and the hawk after their kinds; |
| 16 | "the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, |
| 17 | "the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, |
| 18 | "the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat. |
| 19 | "Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. |
| 20 | "You may eat all clean birds. |
| 21 | "You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. |
| 22 | "You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. |
| 23 | "And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. |
| 24 | "But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, |
| 25 | "then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. |
| 26 | "And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. |
| 27 | "You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. |
| 28 | "At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. |
| 29 | "And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. |
| Deuteronomy 15 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. |
| 2 | "And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the LORD'S release. |
| 3 | "Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, |
| 4 | "except when there may be no poor among you; for the LORD will greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance-- |
| 5 | "only if you carefully obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. |
| 6 | "For the LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you. |
| 7 | "If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, |
| 8 | "but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. |
| 9 | "Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the LORD against you, and it become sin among you. |
| 10 | "You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. |
| 11 | "For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.' |
| 12 | "If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. |
| 13 | "And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; |
| 14 | "you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD has blessed you with, you shall give to him. |
| 15 | "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. |
| 16 | "And if it happens that he says to you, 'I will not go away from you,' because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, |
| 17 | "then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. |
| 18 | "It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do. |
| 19 | "All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to the LORD your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. |
| 20 | "You and your household shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD chooses. |
| 21 | "But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. |
| 22 | "You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. |
| 23 | "Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water. |
| Deuteronomy 16 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night. |
| 2 | "Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to put His name. |
| 3 | "You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. |
| 4 | "And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning. |
| 5 | "You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you; |
| 6 | "but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. |
| 7 | "And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. |
| 8 | "Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it. |
| 9 | "You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. |
| 10 | "Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. |
| 11 | "You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. |
| 12 | "And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. |
| 13 | "You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. |
| 14 | "And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. |
| 15 | "Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice. |
| 16 | "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. |
| 17 | "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you. |
| 18 | "You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. |
| 19 | "You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. |
| 20 | "You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God is giving you. |
| 21 | "You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God. |
| 22 | "You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates. |
| Deuteronomy 17 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God. |
| 2 | "If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant, |
| 3 | "who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, |
| 4 | "and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, |
| 5 | "then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones. |
| 6 | "Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. |
| 7 | "The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. |
| 8 | "If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. |
| 9 | "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. |
| 10 | "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. |
| 11 | "According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. |
| 12 | "Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. |
| 13 | "And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously. |
| 14 | "When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,' |
| 15 | "you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. |
| 16 | "But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.' |
| 17 | "Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. |
| 18 | "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. |
| 19 | "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, |
| 20 | "that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. |
| Deuteronomy 18 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "The priests, the Levites--all the tribe of Levi--shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. |
| 2 | "Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them. |
| 3 | "And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. |
| 4 | "The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. |
| 5 | "For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever. |
| 6 | "So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD chooses, |
| 7 | "then he may serve in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD. |
| 8 | "They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance. |
| 9 | "When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. |
| 10 | "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, |
| 11 | "or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. |
| 12 | "For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. |
| 13 | "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. |
| 14 | "For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. |
| 15 | "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, |
| 16 | "according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.' |
| 17 | "And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. |
| 18 | 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. |
| 19 | 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. |
| 20 | 'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' |
| 21 | "And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'-- |
| 22 | "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. |
| Deuteronomy 19 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, |
| 2 | "you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess. |
| 3 | "You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there. |
| 4 | "And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past-- |
| 5 | "as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies--he shall flee to one of these cities and live; |
| 6 | "lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. |
| 7 | "Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall separate three cities for yourself.' |
| 8 | "Now if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, |
| 9 | "and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, |
| 10 | "lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you. |
| 11 | "But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, |
| 12 | "then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. |
| 13 | "Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you. |
| 14 | "You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. |
| 15 | "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. |
| 16 | "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, |
| 17 | "then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. |
| 18 | "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, |
| 19 | "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. |
| 20 | "And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. |
| 21 | "Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. |
| Deuteronomy 20 (NKJV™) | |
| 1 | "When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. |
| 2 | "So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. |
| 3 | "And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; |
| 4 | 'for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.' |
| 5 | "Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: 'What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. |
| 6 | 'Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. |
| 7 | 'And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.' |
| 8 | "The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.' |
| 9 | "And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. |
| 10 | "When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. |
| 11 | "And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. |
| 12 | "Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. |
| 13 | "And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. |
| 14 | "But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies' plunder which the LORD your God gives you. |
| 15 | "Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. |
| 16 | "But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, |
| 17 | "but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, |
| 18 | "lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God. |
| 19 | "When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man's food. |
| 20 | "Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued. |
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.
The primary theme of Deuteronomy is God's promises standing firm in times of both blessing and judgment--blessing when we obey the Lord and judgment when we disobey His Law. Join Skip Heitzig for a study through this book that is quoted extensively by Jesus and the New Testament writers.
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