1 If you see your brother’s ox or sheep wander astray, you shall not pass by. Instead, you shall lead them back to your brother.
2 But if your brother is not near, or you do not know him, you shall lead them to your house, and they shall be with you until your brother seeks them and receives them.
3 You shall act in a similar manner with his donkey, and his clothing, and all the belongings of your brother that have been lost. If you find it, you shall not neglect it, as if it belonged to a stranger.
4 If you see that your brother’s donkey or ox has fallen along the way, you shall not disregard it. Instead, you shall lift it up with him.
5 A woman shall not be clothed with manly apparel, nor shall a man make use of feminine apparel. For whoever does these things is abominable with God.
6 If, as you are walking along the way, you find a bird’s nest, in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is nurturing the young or the eggs, you shall not take her with her young.
7 Instead, you shall permit her to go, retaining the young that you have caught, so that it may be well with you, and you may live for a long time.
8 When you build a new house, you shall make a wall around the roof. Otherwise, someone may slip and fall down violently, and so blood would be shed at your house, and you would be guilty.
9 You shall not sow your vineyard with another seed, lest both the seed that you have sown and what springs forth from the vineyard be sanctified together.
10 You shall not till with an ox and a donkey at the same time.
11 You shall not wear a vestment which has been woven from both wool and linen.
12 You shall make strings along the hem, at the four corners of your cloak, which covers you.
13 If a man takes a wife, and afterwards he has hatred for her,
14 and so he seeks opportunities to dismiss her, imputing a very wicked name to her by saying, ‘I received this woman as a wife, and upon entering to her, I found her not to be a virgin,’
15 then her father and mother shall take her, and they shall bring with them the signs of her virginity, to the elders of the city who are at the gate.
16 And the father shall say: ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife. And because he hates her,
17 he accuses her with a very wicked name, by saying: “I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.” But behold, these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the clothing before the elders of the city.
18 And the elders of that city shall apprehend that man and beat him.
19 Moreover, they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, which he will give to the father of the girl, because he has committed slander, with a very wicked name, against a virgin of Israel. And he shall have her as a wife, and he cannot dismiss her throughout all the days of his life.
20 But if what he has claimed is true and virginity is not found in the girl,
21 then they shall throw her down, outside the doors of her father’s house, and the men of that city shall stone her to death, and she shall die. For she has acted wickedly in Israel, in that she fornicated in her father’s house. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.
22 If a man sleeps with the wife of another, then they shall both die, that is, the adulterer and the adulteress. And so shall you take away the evil from Israel.
23 If a man has betrothed a girl who is a virgin, and if someone finds her in the city and he lies with her,
24 then you shall lead them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned to death: the girl, because she did not cry out though she was in the city; the man, because he has humiliated the wife of his neighbor. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.
25 But if a man discovers, in the countryside, a girl who has been betrothed, and, apprehending her, he lies with her, then he alone shall die.
26 The girl shall suffer nothing, nor is she guilty unto death. For just as a robber rises up against his brother and slays his life, so also did the girl suffer greatly.
27 She was alone in the field. She cried out, and there was no one nearby, who might deliver her.
28 If a man find a girl who is a virgin, who does not have a betrothal, and, taking her, he lies with her, and the matter is brought to judgment,
29 then he who slept with her shall give to the father of the girl fifty shekels of silver, and he shall have her as a wife, because he has humiliated her. He cannot dismiss her, throughout all the days of his life.
30 No man shall take his father’s wife, nor remove her covering.”
1 A eunuch, one whose testicles have been debilitated or cut off, or whose penis has been cut off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord.
2 The offspring of a harlot, that is, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.
3 The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation, shall not enter into the church of the Lord forever,
4 because they were not willing to meet you with bread and water along the way, when you had departed from Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Beor, from Mesopotamia in Syria, in order to curse you.
5 But the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and he turned his cursing into your blessing, because he loves you.
6 You shall not make peace with them, nor shall you seek their prosperity, throughout all the days of your life forever.
7 You shall not abhor anyone from Idumea, for he is your brother, nor the Egyptian, for you were a new arrival in his land.
8 Those who have been born of them, in the third generation, shall enter into the church of the Lord.
9 When you have gone out to war against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from everything that is evil.
10 If there is a man among you who has been defiled by a dream in the night, he shall depart from the camp.
11 And he shall not return before the evening, after he has washed with water, and then, after the sun sets, he shall return to the camp.
12 You shall have a place beyond the camp to which you may go for the necessities of nature,
13 carrying a small shovel at your belt. And when you would sit down, you shall dig around, and then, with the soil that was dug up, you shall cover
14 that from which you were relieved. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, in order to rescue you, and to deliver your enemies to you. And so, let your camp be holy, and let nothing filthy appear within it, lest he abandon you.
15 You shall not deliver a servant who has fled to you to his master.
16 He shall live with you in a place that pleases him, and he shall rest in one of your cities. You shall not grieve him.
17 There shall be no prostitutes among the daughters of Israel, nor anyone among the sons of Israel who visits a prostitute.
18 You shall not offer money from a prostitute, nor the price of a dog, in the house of the Lord your God, no matter what you may have vowed. For both of these are an abomination with the Lord your God.
19 You shall not lend money, or grain, or anything else at all, to your brother at interest,
20 but only to a foreigner. For you shall lend to your brother whatever he needs without interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your works in the land, which you shall enter so as to possess it.
21 When you have made a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be late in paying it. For the Lord your God demands it. And if you delay, it shall be imputed to you as a sin.
22 If you are not willing to make a promise, then it shall be without sin.
23 But as soon as it has departed from your lips, you shall observe and do just as you have promised to the Lord your God and just as you have spoken by your own free will and with your own mouth.
24 Upon entering your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you please. But you may not carry any out with you.
25 If you enter into your friend’s grain field, you may break off the ears, and rub them in your hand, but you may not reap them with a sickle.”
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1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, with his entire army, and they besieged it.
2 Then, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month, the city was opened.
3 And all the rulers of the king of Babylon entered and were seated at the middle gate: Nergal-Sharezer, the priest of Nebo, Sarsechim, the chief eunuch, Nergal-Sharezer, the chief magi, and all the other rulers of the king of Babylon.
4 And when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, with all the men of war, had seen them, they fled. And they departed from the city at night, by way of the king’s garden, and through the gate which was between the two walls. And they departed along the way of the desert.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them. And they overtook Zedekiah in the plain of the desert of Jericho. And having captured him, they led him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, at Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath. And he declared a judgment against him
6 And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah, at Riblah, before his eyes. And the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah.
7 Also, he plucked out the eyes of Zedekiah. And he bound him with fetters, to be led away to Babylon.
8 Also, the Chaldeans burned the house of the king and the house of the people with fire, and they overturned the wall of Jerusalem.
9 And Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who had remained in the city, and the fugitives who had fled to him, and all the rest of the people who had remained.
10 And Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, released some of the poor people, those who had almost nothing, into the land of Judah. And he gave them vineyards and cisterns in that day.
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had instructed Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, about Jeremiah, saying:
12 Take him, and set your eyes on him, and you shall do no harm to him at all. But as he is willing, so shall you do with him.
13 Therefore, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, sent, and Nebushazban, the chief eunuch, and Nergal-Sharezer, the chief magi, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon sent,
14 and they took Jeremiah from the vestibule of the prison, and they delivered him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, so that he could enter a house and live among the people.
15 But the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah, when he had been confined to the vestibule of the prison, saying: “Go, and speak to Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian, saying:
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words over this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be in your sight in that day.
17 And I will free you in that day, says the Lord. And you will not be delivered into the hands of the men whom you dread.
18 But when delivering, I will free you. And you will not fall by the sword. Instead, your life will be saved for you, because you had faith in me, says the Lord.”
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, had released him from Ramah, where he had taken him, bound in chains, along with all those who were being carried away from Jerusalem and from Judah, and were being led to Babylon.
2 Therefore, the leader of the military, taking Jeremiah, said to him: “The Lord your God has declared this evil over this place,
3 and he has brought it. And the Lord has done just as he has spoken. For you have sinned against the Lord, and you have not heeded his voice, and so this word has happened to you.
4 Now therefore, behold, I have released you this day from the chains which were on your hands. If it pleases you to come with me into Babylon, then come. And I will set my eyes upon you. But if it displeases you to come with me into Babylon, then remain. Behold, all the land is in your sight. Whatever you will choose, and wherever it will please you to go, so shall you go, proceeding to that place.
5 And you may decline to come with me. For you may live with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah. Therefore, you may live with him in the midst of the people. And you may go wherever it will please you to go.” And the leader of the military also gave him foods and gifts, and he released him.
6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And he lived with him in the midst of the people, those who had been left behind in the land.
7 And when all the leaders of the army, who had been dispersed throughout the regions, they and their associates, had heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, governor of the land, and that he had committed to him the men, and women, and children, and the poor of the land, who had not been carried away to Babylon,
8 they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah, with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan, the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai, who were of Netophathi, and Jezaniah, the son of Maacathi, they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their companions, saying: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.
10 Behold, I live at Mizpah, so that I may follow the instruction of the Chaldeans who are sent to us. But as for you, gather the vintage, and the harvest, and the oil, and store it up in your vessels, and dwell in your cities, which you hold.”
11 So then, all the Jews, who were in Moab, and among the sons of Ammon, and in Idumea, and in all the regions, when they had heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judea, and that he had made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over them,
12 all the Jews, I say, returned from all the places to which they had fled, and they came into the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered wine and an exceedingly great harvest.
13 Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the leaders of the army, who had been dispersed in the regions, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
14 And they said to him: “Know that Baalis, the king of the sons of Ammon, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to strike down your life.” And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, did not believe them.
15 But Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke to Gedaliah, separately, at Mizpah, saying: “I will go, and I will strike down Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, without anyone knowing; otherwise he may kill you, and all the Jews will be scattered who have been gathered to you, and the remnant of Judah will perish.”
16 And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, said to Johanan, the son of Kareah: “Do not do this word. For what you have said about Ishmael is false.”
1 Unto the end, a psalm of David,
2 When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee.
3 Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
4 Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
6 To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged.
7 For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.
20 And rising up, he went to his father. But while he was still at a distance, his father saw him, and he was moved with compassion, and running to him, he fell upon his neck and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. Now I am not worthy to be called your son.’
22 But the father said to his servants: ‘Quickly! Bring out the best robe, and clothe him with it. And put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.
23 And bring the fatted calf here, and kill it. And let us eat and hold a feast.
24 For this son of mine was dead, and has revived; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to feast.
25 But his elder son was in the field. And when he returned and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and he questioned him as to what these things meant.
27 And he said to him: ‘Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safely.’
28 Then he became indignant, and he was unwilling to enter. Therefore, his father, going out, began to plead with him.
29 And in response, he said to his father: ‘Behold, I have been serving you for so many years. And I have never transgressed your commandment. And yet, you have never given me even a young goat, so that I might feast with my friends.
30 Yet after this son of yours returned, who has devoured his substance with loose women, you have killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 But he said to him: ‘Son, you are with me always, and all that I have is yours.
32 But it was necessary to feast and to rejoice. For this brother of yours was dead, and has revived; he was lost, and is found.’ “
