When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done in Israel,

You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.

You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught.

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations.

When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses,

You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them,

You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty.

You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.

If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him,

You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself outside you must dig a hole with the spade and then turn and cover your excrement.

When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it,

You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him.

And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments.

The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you.

The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him.

The Lord will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you.

Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.