U³ W 1,2. Yehovah your ’Elohim. Choosing. X m 3-21. Meats (negative and positive). n 22,23. Tithes. X m 24-26. Meats (positive). n 27-29-. Tithes. W -29. Yehovah your ’Elohim. Blessing.
1452 B.C.
3: You shall not eat any abominable thing.
4: These are the beasts which you all shall eat (there are 11 animals named in Deuteronomy which are not included in Leviticus and Numbers. More names known after 40 years from Egypt. Cp. Lev. 11): the ox, the sheep, and the goat,
5: The hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the mountain goat, and the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
6: And every beast that parts the hoof (cp. Lev.11:2,8), and cleaves the cleft into two claws, and chews the cud among the beasts, that you all shall eat.
7: Nevertheless these you all shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean to you.
8: And the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet chews not the cud, it is unclean to you: you all shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass (the swine has no sweat glands therefore the poison remains in the flesh. This is why you will get sick if you eat it. Listen to Father, He created you and He knows what's good for you. This is NOT BECAUSE OF RELIGIOUS REASONS).
9: These you all shall eat of all that are in the waters (cp. Lev.11:9-12): all that have fins and scales shall you all eat:
10: And whatsoever has not fins and scales you all may not eat; it is unclean to you.
11: Of all clean birds you all shall eat.
12: But these are they of which you all shall not eat (cp. Lev.11:13-20): the eagle, and ossifrage, and the osprey,
13: And the vulture, and the falcon, and the kite after his kind,
14: And every raven after his kind,
15: And the ostrich, and the night hawk, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after his kind,
16: The little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl,
17: And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,
18: And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the hoopee, and the bat.
19: And every creeping thing that flies is unclean to you (= swarming creature, i.e. rapidly multiplying. Cp. Gen.1:20,21; 7:21; 8:17; 9:7. Ex.8:3. Lev.11:29 &c.): they shall not be eaten.
20: But of all clean fowls you all may eat.
21: You all shall not eat of any thing that dies of itself (cp. Ex.22:31. Lev.11:39; 17:15; 22:8. Ezek.4:14): you shalt give it to the stranger that is in your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are an set apart people to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
You shall not boil a kid in his mother's milk (cp. Ex.23:19; 34:26).
22: You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed (cp. Lev.27:30. Num.18:24,30. Deut.12:6; 4:28; 26:12), that the field brings forth year by year.
23: And you shall eat before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) (tithes were eaten. See Amos 4:4), in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks (see Gen.4:4. Ex.13:11-15; 23:19. Lev.27:26. Num.18:15-17, and Neh.10:36); that you may learn to revere the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) always.
24: And if the way be too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from you, which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has blessed you:
25: Then shall you turn it into money (as in Matt.21:12. Mark 11:15. Luke 19:45, and John 2:14,15), and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which the Lord (Yehovah) your (Elohim) shall choose:
26: And you shall bestow that money for whatsoever your soul longs for, for oxen, or for sheep, or for fermented wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever your soul desires (= asks of you): and you shall eat there before (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), and you shall rejoice, you, and yor household,
27: And the Levite that is within your gates (cp. 12:19); you shall not forsake him; for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
28: At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates:
29: And the Levite, {because he has no part nor inheritance with you,} and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied;
that the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
S¹ Y¹ 15:1-18. Sabbatical year. Y² 15:19-23. Firstlings. Y³ 16:1-17. Three feasts.
Y¹ p¹ 1-6. Release. q¹ 7-11. Hypothetical case. p² 12-15. Release. q² 16,17. Hypothetical case. p³ 18. Release.
p¹ r 1-4-. Command. s -4. Reason. Blessing. r 5. Obedience. s 6. Reason. Blessing.
for the Lord (Yehovah) shall greatly bless you in the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you for an inheritance to possess it:
5: Only if you carefully listen to the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) your (Elohim), to observe to do all these commandments which I command you this day.
6: For the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) blesses you, as He promised you: and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.
q¹ t v 7-. Case of poverty. w -7-. Your land. u x -7. Warning. y 8. Command. u x 9. Warning. y 10. Command. t v 11-. Cases of poverty. w -11. Your land.
7: If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any of your gates in your land
which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives 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 shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wants.
9: Beware that there be not a thought (= word = thought expressed) in your wicked heart (= heart, or mind of Belial), 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 to Yehovah against you, and it be sin to you.
10: You shall surely give him, and your heart (= mind) shall not be grieved when you give to him: because that for this thing the Lord (Yehovah) you God (Elohim) shall bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand to.
11: For the poor shall never cease out of the land (i.e. of die from your neglect; which would be the case if these laws were not carried out):
therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land.
12: And if your brother or your sister, an Hebrew man (cp. Ex.21:2. Jer.34:13,14), or an Hebrew woman , be sold to you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
13: And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty:
14: You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing-floor, and out of your winepress: of that wherewith Yehovah your Elohim has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15: And you shall remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today.
16: And it shall be, if he say to you (cp. Ex.21:2. Jer.34:13,14), ‘I will not go away from you;’ because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you;
17: Then thou shalt take an aul (only here and Ex.21:6), and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be your servant for ever (Fig. whole time put for part of time). And also to your maidservant 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 to you (Fig., put for that which is more than one), in serving you six years: and Yehovah your Elohim shall bless you in all that you do.
Y² a b 19-. Without blemish. c -19. Prohibition. Not worked. d 20. Eating (positive). a b 21-. Without blemish. c -21. Prohibition. d 22,23. Eating (negative).
19: All the firstling males that come of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) (cp. Ex.34:19,20):
you shall do no work with the firstling of your bullock, nor shear the firstling of your sheep.
20: You shall eat it before the Lord (Yehovah) your God( Elohim) year by year in the place which the Lord (Yehovah) shall choose, you and your household.
21: And if there be any blemish therein (cp. Lev.22:20-22. Mal.1:8), as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish,
you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
22: You shall eat it within your gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.
23: Only you shall not eat the blood thereof; you shall pour it upon the ground as water.
Y³ e¹ 1-15. Particular. e² 16,17. General.
e¹ f¹ 1-8. Passover. f² 9-12. Weeks. f³ 13-15. Tabernacles.
f¹ g 1. The feast. Ordinance. h i 2. The chosen place (positive). k 3,4. The manner. h i 5,6. The chosen place (negative). k 7. The manner. g 8. The feast. Ordinance.
2: You shall therefore sacrifice the passover to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) (this to be done (observed) EVERY April 3-4th in our day. Christ became our passover), of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord (Yehovah) shall choose to place his name there.
3: You shall eat no leavened bread with it (today it is no false doctrine, or teaching); seven days shall you eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste (not the reason given in Ex.12:17 for the Exodus. But here the reason why the bread was unleavened. There was no time for it to "rise" by fermentation): that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4: And there shall be no fermented bread seen with you in all your borders seven days (cp. Ex.13:7; 12:18-20); neither shall there anything of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.
5: You may not sacrifice the passover within any of your cities, which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you:
6: But at the place which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) shall choose to place His name in, there you shall sacrifice the passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt.
7: And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord (Yehovah) your (Elohim) shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go to your tents.
8: Six days you shall eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day (our April 10-11th. Cp. Ex.12:16; 13:6) shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim): you shall do no work therein.
f² l n 9. Command. "You shall remember". o 10-. Feast. "You shall keep". m -10. Offering of gift. "You shall give". m 11. Offering of praise. "You shall rejoice". l n 12-. Command. "You shall remember". o -12. Feast. "You shall observe".
9: Seven weeks shall you number to you: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as you begin to put the sickle to the corn (Pentecost. May 23-24th).
10: And you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand,
which you shall give to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), according as the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has blessed you:
11: And you shall rejoice before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has chosen to place His name there.
12: And you shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt:
and you shall observe and do these statutes.
f³ p q 13-. The feast. Seven days. r -13. Time. s 14. Rejoicing. Command. p q 15-. The feast. Seven days. r -15-. Place. s -15. Rejoicing. Reason.
13: You shall observe the feast of tabernacles seven days (Sept. 28-29th through 5-6th Oct.),
after that you have gathered in your threshing floor and your wine press (i.e. what is produced in them):
14: And you shalt rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates.
15: Seven days shall you keep a solemn feast to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim)
in the place which the Lord (Yehovah) shall choose:
because the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) shall bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice.
16: Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) in the place which He shall choose (see Ex.23:15,17); in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before Yehovah empty:
17: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) which He has given you.
v A 16:18-20. Judges. Appointment. B 16:21,22. Illegal acts. B 17:1. Illegal offerings. A 17:2-13. Judges. Duties.
18: Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you, throughout your tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19: You shall not wrest judgment (= turn away); you shall not respect persons, neither take a gift (= bribe): for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
20: That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you.
21: You shall not plant you a grove of any trees (= ’ashêrah, something set upright or erect in the ground and worshipped. Here in the fem. gender) near to the altar of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), which you shall make you.
22: Neither shall you set you up any pillar; which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) hates.
A t 2-7-. Law. Simple cases. u -7. Intention. Removal of evil. t 8-12. Law. Difficult cases. u 13. Intention. Removal of evil.
t v w 2-. Criminals. x -2,3. Crime. Commission. y 4. Proof. v w 5-. Criminals. x -5. Crime. Punishment. y 6,7-. Proof.
2: If there be found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) you, man or woman,
that has wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), in transgressing His covenant (Heb. ‘åbar, to pass beyond, transgress),
3: And has gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded (equally authoritative in matter of faith and worship today);
4: And it be told you, and you have heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
5: Then shall you bring forth that man or that woman,
which have committed that wicked thing, to your gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones, till they die.
6: At the mouth (Fig., put for the witness borne by it) of two witnesses (cp. Num.35:30, and see Matt.18:16. 2 Cor.13:1. 1 Tim.5:19), or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7: The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.
So you shall put the wicked away from among you (= to burn up the wicked thing in order to clear out. See 13:5).
t a 8-. Cases. Difficult. b -8-11. Process and sentence. a 12-. Cases. Presumptuous. b -12,13. Punishment–Death.
8: If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates:
then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) shall choose;
9: And you shall come to the priests the Levites (first occ. of this expression. Occ. 6 times in Deut. The expression refers to the Levitical priests as distinct from the Tribal priests [or Levies), and to the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment:
(V. 10 is the middle verse of Deuteronomy)
10: And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which Yehovah shall choose shall show you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they inform you:
11: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you (this was the great duty of the priests. See 33:10. Lev.10:11. Ezra 7:10. Jer.18:18. Hag.2:11,12. Mal.2:7), and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12: And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not listen to the priest that stands to minister there before the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim), or to the judge,
even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.
13: And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
w c 14. If a king desired. d 15. Yehovah's choice: his credentials. e 16,17. Commands (negative). e 18-. Command (positive). d -18. Yehovah's law: his study. c 19,20. The king desirable.
14: When you are come to the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say (a prophetic contingency provided for. Cp. Gen.36:31), ‘I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;’
15: You shall in any wise set him king over you, whom the Lord (Yehovah) your (Elohim) shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set king over you: you may not set a stranger over you, which is not your brother.
16: But he shall not multiply horses to himself (symbolical of power), nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord (Yehovah) has said to you, ‘You all shall henceforth return no more that way.’
17: Neither shall he multiply wives to himself (cp. 1 Kings 11:1-3), that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18: And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom,
that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites (see Ex.17:14):
19: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to revere (or love) the Lord (Yehovah) his God (Elohim), to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
20: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment (see 28:14. 2 Kings 22:2. Josh.1:7; 23:6), to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
S² f¹ 1,2. General (negative and positive, alternately). f² 3-8. Particular.
3: And this shall be the priest's due from the people (= priest's custom, cp. 1 Sam.2:13,28,29. Lev.7:33,34. Num.18:8-14), from them that slay and offer up a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep (Heb. Zåbåch, hence to offer what has been slain; to sacrifice); and they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw (the pouch [as a cavity] or first stomach of ruminant).
4: The firstfruit also of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.
5: For the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord (Yehovah), him and his sons for ever.
6: And if a Levite come from any of your gates out of all Israel (i.e. a Tribal Levite who devoted himself to the Aaronic service. Cp. Lev.25:33), where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind to the place which the Lord (Yehovah) shall choose;
7: Then he shall minister in the name of the Lord (Yehovah) his God (Elohim), as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the Lord (Yehovah).
8: They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which comes of the sale of his patrimony (an inheritance of an ancestor).
w C g 9-11. Command. Yehovah your Elohim. h 12. Reason. Abomination. g 13. Command. Yehovah your Elohim. h 14. Reason. Listening. D i 15-. "Like unto Moses". k -15-17. Listen. Command (positive). i 18. "Like unto Moses"> k 19. Listen. Command (negative). C l 20-. Presumptuous prophet. Utterance. m -20. Not to live (negative). l 21,22-. Presumptuous prophet. Testimony. m -22. Not to be feared (negative).
9: When you are come into the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations (see Ex.34:13) of those nations.
10: There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11: Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits (see Lev.19:31), or a wizard, or a necromancer (a seeker to the dead; a medium).
12: For all that do these things are an abomination to Yehovah: and because of these abominations the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) does drive them out from before you.
13: You shall be devoted (or single-minded) with the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim).
14: For these nations, which you shall possess, listened to observers of times, and to diviners: but as for you, the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) has not suffered you so to do. <> 15: The Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) will raise up (notice the transition, and the structure above) unto you a Prophet (= Christ) from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me;
to Him you all shall listen (cp. Matt.17:5. Acts 3:22,23);
16: According to all that you desired of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord (Yehovah) my God (Elohim), neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.’
17: And the Lord (Yehovah) said to me (see note on 2:9. This was said before leaving Horeb, so that "The Prophet like unto Moses" was promised at Sinai), ‘They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
18: I will raise (cp. John 6:14. Acts 3:22; 7:37) them up a Prophet from among their brethren (Here, a Prophet; Priest, Ps.104:4; a King, Zech.6:13), like unto you, and will put My words in His mouth (cp. John 12:48,49 and note ohn 3:34; 7:16; 8:28,47; 12:49; 14:10,24; 17:8); and He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him. <> 19: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him (cp. John 12:48, and Heb.4:12, where "discerner" means "able to judge" Gr. kritikos. That "word" is the critic" or judge, and will judge all other "critics").
20: But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods,
even that prophet shall die.’
21: And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord (Yehovah) has not spoken?’ (cp. Jer.28:9)
22: When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord (Yehovah), if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord (Yehovah) has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously:
you shall not be afraid of him.