you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. ¹  Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).

There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land ¹  for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. ² 

You must pursue justice alone ¹  so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.

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 ¹  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 ¹  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 ¹  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 ¹  and gives you all the land he pledged to them, ² 

You must not shed innocent blood ¹  in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. ² 

You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, ¹  which will have been defined ²  in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ³ 

As for the cities of these peoples that ¹  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ²  to survive.

If a homicide victim ¹  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ²  and no one knows who killed ³  him,

You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself ¹  outside you must dig a hole with the spade ²  and then turn and cover your excrement. ³ 

When ¹  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, ¹  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 ¹  is giving you.