אֵת

This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”

When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,

You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,

…and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

…the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.

For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”

When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.

But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.

…so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.

When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?

But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.

…bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,

…and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

…then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,

…and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

…when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

…his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

…you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother.

If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him.

If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.

You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

…and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.”

Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate

…and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her.

Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.