Day 84 of 730

¹You are the children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

²For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³You shall not eat any abominable thing.

⁴These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

⁵the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the chamois.

⁶Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that may you eat.

⁷Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the rabbit; because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, they are unclean to you.

⁸The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn't chew the cud, is unclean to you: of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

⁹These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales may you eat;

¹⁰and whatever doesn't have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you.

¹¹Of all clean birds you may eat.

¹²But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, and the vulture, and the osprey,

¹³and the red kite, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind,

¹⁴and every raven after its kind,

¹⁵and the ostrich, and the owl, and the seagull, and the hawk after its kind,

¹⁶the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl,

¹⁷and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant,

¹⁸and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹All winged creeping things are unclean to you: they shall not be eaten.

²⁰Of all clean birds you may eat.

²¹You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it to the foreigner living among you 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.

²²You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes forth from the field year by year.

²³You shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place which he shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

²⁴If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God shall choose, to set his name there, when the Lord your God shall bless you;

²⁵then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose:

²⁶and you shall bestow the money for whatever your soul desires, for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷The Levite who is within your gates, you shall not forsake him; for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

²⁸At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates:

²⁹and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner living among you, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

¹At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

²This is the way of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother; because the Lord's release has been proclaimed.

³Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of your is with your brother your hand shall release.

⁴However there shall be no poor with you; (for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it;)

⁵if only you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you this day.

⁶For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you: and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

⁷If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

⁸but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.

⁹Beware that there not be a base 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 to the Lord against you, and it be sin to you.

¹⁰You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to.

¹¹For the poor will never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

¹²If 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.

¹³When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:

¹⁴you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

¹⁵You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today.

¹⁶It shall be, if he tells you, "I will not go out from you"; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you;

¹⁷then 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.

¹⁸It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of 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.

²⁰You shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, you and your household.

²¹If it has any blemish, is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

²²You shall eat it within your gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart.

²³Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground as water.

¹How lovely are your dwellings, Lord of hosts!

²My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

³Yes, the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, near your altars, Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.

⁴Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are always praising you. Selah.

⁵Blessed are those whose strength is in you; who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.

⁶Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs. Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings.

⁷They go from strength to strength. Everyone of them appears before God in Zion.

⁸Lord, God of Hosts, hear my prayer. Listen, God of Jacob. Selah.

⁹Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.

¹⁰For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

¹²Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

¹A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favor is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: The Lord is the maker of them all.

³A prudent man sees danger, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

⁴The result of humility and the fear of the Lord is wealth, honor, and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked: whoever guards his soul stays from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king's friend.

¹²The eyes of the Lord watch over knowledge; but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.

¹³The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!"

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit: he who is under the Lord's wrath will fall into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.

¹⁷Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching.

¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you.

²⁰Haven't I written to you thirty excellent things of counsel and knowledge,

²¹To teach you truth, reliable words, to give sound answers to the ones who sent you?

²²Do not exploit the poor, because he is poor; and do not crush the needy in court;

²³for the Lord will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

²⁴Do not befriend a hot-tempered man, and do not associate with one who harbors anger:

²⁵lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul.

²⁶Do not be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts.

²⁷If you do not have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up.

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won't serve obscure men.