(18) You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. (19) You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. (20) Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you.

(21) You shall not set up a sacred post—any kind of pole beside the altar of the ETERNAL your God that you may make— (22) or erect a stone pillar; for such the ETERNAL your God detests. (1) You shall not sacrifice to the ETERNAL your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect of a serious kind, for that is abhorrent to the ETERNAL your God. (2) If there is found among you, in one of the settlements that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, a man or woman who has affronted the ETERNAL your God and transgressed the covenant— (3) turning to the worship of other gods and bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, something I never commanded— (4) and you have been informed or have learned of it, then you shall make a thorough inquiry. If it is true, the fact is established, that abhorrent thing was perpetrated in Israel, (5) you shall take the man or the woman who did that wicked thing out to the public place, and you shall stone them, that man or woman, to death.— (6) A person shall be put to death only on the testimony of two or more witnesses; no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.— (7) Let the hands of the witnesses be the first to put [the condemned] to death, followed by the hands of the rest of the people. Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst.

(8) If a case is too baffling for you to decide, be it a controversy over homicide, civil law, or assault—matters of dispute in your courts—you shall promptly repair to the place that the ETERNAL your God will have chosen, (9) and appear before the levitical priests, or the magistrate in charge at the time, and present your problem. When they have announced to you the verdict in the case, (10) you shall carry out the verdict that is announced to you from that place that GOD chose, observing scrupulously all their instructions to you.

(11) You shall act in accordance with the instructions given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left. (12) Should the [losing] party act presumptuously and disregard the priest charged with serving there the ETERNAL your God, or the magistrate, that person shall die. Thus you will sweep out evil from Israel: (13) all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.

(14) If, after you have entered the land that the ETERNAL your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,” (15) you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by the ETERNAL your God. Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your fellow Israelite. (16) Moreover, he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since GOD has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.” (17) And he shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess.

(18) When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. (19) Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere the ETERNAL his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws. (20) Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.

(1) The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no territorial portion with Israel. They shall live only off GOD’s offerings by fire as their portion, (2) and shall have no portion among their brother tribes: GOD is their portion, as promised. (3) This, then, shall be the priests’ due from the people: Everyone who offers a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep, must give the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach to the priest. (4) You shall also give him the first fruits of your new grain and wine and oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. (5) For the ETERNAL your God has chosen him and his descendants, out of all your tribes, to be in attendance for service in the name of GOD for all time.

(3) This, then, shall be the priests’ due from the people: Everyone who offers a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep, must give the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach to the priest. (4) You shall also give him the first fruits of your new grain and wine and oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. (5) For the ETERNAL your God has chosen him and his descendants, out of all your tribes, to be in attendance for service in the name of GOD for all time.

(12)I, I am the One who comforts you!What ails you that you fearMan who must die,Mortals who fare like grass?(13)You have forgotten GOD your Maker,
Who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth!And you live all day in constant dreadBecause of the rage of an oppressorWho is aiming to cut [you] down.Yet of what account is the rage of an oppressor?(14)Quickly the crouching one is freed;
He is not cut down and slain,And he shall not want for food.(15)For I the ETERNAL your God—
Who stirs up the sea into roaring waves,Whose name is GOD of Hosts— (16)Have put My words in your mouthAnd sheltered you with My hand;I, who planted the skies and made firm the earth,
Have said to Zion: You are My people!(17)Rouse, rouse yourself!Arise, O Jerusalem,You who from GOD’s hand
Have drunk God’s wrath-filled cup,You who have drained to the dregsThe bowl, the cup of reeling!(18)She has none to guide herOf all the children she bore;None takes her by the hand,Of all the children she reared.(19)These two things have befallen you:Wrack and ruin—who can console you?Famine and sword—how shall I comfort you? (20)Your sons lie in a swoonAt the corner of every street—Like an antelope caught in a net—Drunk with the wrath of GOD,
With the rebuke of your God.(21)Therefore,Listen to this, unhappy one,Who are drunk, but not with wine!(22)Thus said GOD, your Sovereign,
Your God who champions this people:Herewith I take from your handThe cup of reeling,The bowl, the cup of My wrath;You shall never drink it again.(23)I will put it in the hands of your tormentors,Who have commanded you,“Get down, that we may walk over you”—So that you made your back like the ground,Like a street for passersby.(1)Awake, awake, O Zion!Clothe yourself in splendor;Put on your robes of majesty,Jerusalem, holy city!For the uncircumcised and the impureShall never enter you again.(2)Arise, shake off the dust,Sit [on your throne], Jerusalem!Loose the bonds from your neck,O captive one, Fair Zion!(3)For thus said GOD:
You were sold for no price,And shall be redeemed without money.(4)For thus said my Sovereign GOD:
Of old, My people went downTo Egypt to sojourn there;But Assyria has robbed them,Giving nothing in return.(5)What therefore do I gain here?—declares GOD—
For My people has been carried off for nothing,Their mockers howl—declares GOD—
And constantly, unceasingly,My name is reviled.(6)Assuredly, My people shall learn My name,Assuredly [they shall learn] on that dayThat I, the One who promised,Am now at hand.(7)How welcome on the mountainAre the footsteps of the heraldAnnouncing happiness,Heralding good fortune,Announcing victory,Telling Zion, “Your God reigns!”(8)Hark!Your lookouts raise their voices,As one they shout for joy;For every eye shall behold GOD’s return to Zion. (9)Raise a shout together,O ruins of Jerusalem!For GOD will comfort this people,
Will redeem Jerusalem.(10) GOD will bare a holy arm
In the sight of all the nations,And the very ends of earth shall seeThe victory of our God.(11)Turn, turn away, touch naught impureAs you depart from there;Keep pure, as you go forth from there,You who bear the vessels of GOD! (12)For you will not depart in haste,Nor will you leave in flight;For GOD is marching before you,
The God of Israel is your rear guard.

(12)I, I am the One who comforts you!What ails you that you fearMan who must die,Mortals who fare like grass?(13)You have forgotten GOD your Maker,
Who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth!And you live all day in constant dreadBecause of the rage of an oppressorWho is aiming to cut [you] down.Yet of what account is the rage of an oppressor?(14)Quickly the crouching one is freed;
He is not cut down and slain,And he shall not want for food.(15)For I the ETERNAL your God—
Who stirs up the sea into roaring waves,Whose name is GOD of Hosts— (16)Have put My words in your mouthAnd sheltered you with My hand;I, who planted the skies and made firm the earth,
Have said to Zion: You are My people!(17)Rouse, rouse yourself!Arise, O Jerusalem,You who from GOD’s hand
Have drunk God’s wrath-filled cup,You who have drained to the dregsThe bowl, the cup of reeling!(18)She has none to guide herOf all the children she bore;None takes her by the hand,Of all the children she reared.(19)These two things have befallen you:Wrack and ruin—who can console you?Famine and sword—how shall I comfort you? (20)Your sons lie in a swoonAt the corner of every street—Like an antelope caught in a net—Drunk with the wrath of GOD,
With the rebuke of your God.(21)Therefore,Listen to this, unhappy one,Who are drunk, but not with wine!(22)Thus said GOD, your Sovereign,
Your God who champions this people:Herewith I take from your handThe cup of reeling,The bowl, the cup of My wrath;You shall never drink it again.(23)I will put it in the hands of your tormentors,Who have commanded you,“Get down, that we may walk over you”—So that you made your back like the ground,Like a street for passersby.

(2)Look back to Abraham your fatherAnd to Sarah who brought you forth.For he was only one when I called him,But I blessed him and made him many.