Day 145 of 365

¹When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

²It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,

³and shall tell them, "Hear, Israel, you draw near this day to battle against your enemies: do not let your heart faint; do not be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them;

⁴for the Lord your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."

⁵The officers shall speak to the people, saying, "What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

⁶What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit.

⁷What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her."

⁸The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, "What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother's heart melt as his heart."

⁹It shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.

¹¹It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.

¹²If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

¹³and when the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword:

¹⁴but the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its spoil, you shall take for a prey to yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶But of the cities of these peoples, that the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;

¹⁷but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as the Lord your God has commanded you;

¹⁸that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them; for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of you?

²⁰Only the trees of which you know that they are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it fall.

¹If one be found slain in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him;

²then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain:

³and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn't been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke;

⁴and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

⁵The priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the Lord your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

⁶All the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;

⁷and they shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

⁸Forgive, Lord, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not allow innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel." The blood shall be forgiven them.

⁹So you shall put away the innocent blood from the midst of you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord.

¹⁰When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive,

¹¹and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire to her, and would take her to you as wife;

¹²then you shall bring her home to your house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

¹³and she shall put the clothing of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

¹⁴It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her at all for money, you shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.

¹⁵If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers who was hated;

¹⁶then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn:

¹⁷but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not listen to them;

¹⁹then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;

²⁰and they shall tell the elders of his city, "This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard."

²¹All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

²²If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree;

²³his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

¹You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them: you shall surely bring them again to your brother.

²If your brother isn't near to you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother seek after it, and you shall restore it to him.

³So you shall do with his donkey; and so you shall do with his garment; and so you shall do with every lost thing of your brother's, which he has lost, and you have found: you may not hide yourself.

⁴You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them: you shall surely help him to lift them up again.

⁵A woman shall not wear men's clothing, neither shall a man put on women's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶If a bird's nest chance to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young:

⁷you shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take to yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

⁸When you build a new house, then you shall make a battlement for your roof, that you do not bring blood on your house, if any man fall from there.

⁹You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole fruit be forfeited, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard.

¹⁰You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹You shall not wear a mixed stuff, wool and linen together.

¹²You shall make yourselves fringes on the four borders of your cloak, with which you cover yourself.

¹³If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and hates her,

¹⁴and accuses her of shameful things, and brings up an evil name on her, and says, "I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity";

¹⁵then shall the father of the young lady, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the young lady's virginity to the elders of the city in the gate;

¹⁶and the young lady's father shall tell the elders, "I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he hates her;

¹⁷and behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, 'I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity;' and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity." They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸The elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him;

¹⁹and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young lady, because he has brought up an evil name on a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

²⁰But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young lady;

²¹then they shall bring out the young lady to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done folly in Israel, to play the prostitute in her father's house: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

²²If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman: so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

²³If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;

²⁴then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she did not cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor's wife: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

²⁵But if the man find the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the man only who lay with her shall die:

²⁶but to the lady you shall do nothing; there is in the lady no sin worthy of death: for as when a man rises against his neighbor, and kills him, even so is this matter;

²⁷for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was none to save her.

²⁸If a man find a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;

²⁹then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

¹ALEPH I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever.

²Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.

³Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.

⁴One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.

⁵Of the glorious majesty of your honor, of your wondrous works, I will meditate.

⁶Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness.

⁷They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness.

⁸The Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.

⁹The Lord is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.

¹⁰All your works will give thanks to you, Lord. Your holy ones will extol you.

¹¹They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power;

¹²to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.

¹³Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. the Lord is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds.

¹⁴The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.

¹⁵The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.

¹⁶You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.

¹⁸The Lord is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

²⁰The Lord preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

¹The king's heart is in the Lord's hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.

³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

⁴A high look, and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty.

⁶Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will drive them away, because they refuse to do what is right.

⁸The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁹It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than to share a house with a contentious woman.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

¹¹When the mocker is punished, the simple gains wisdom. When the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifies anger; and a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.

¹⁵It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

¹⁶The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil shall not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked is a ransom for the righteous; the treacherous for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.

²⁰There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swallows it up.

²¹He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of its confidence.

²³Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

²⁴The proud and haughty man, "scoffer" is his name; he works in the arrogance of pride.

²⁵The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

²⁶There are those who covet greedily all day long; but the righteous give and do not withhold.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!

²⁸A false witness will perish, and a man who listens speaks to eternity.

²⁹A wicked man hardens his face; but as for the upright, he establishes his ways.

³⁰There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.

³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with the Lord.