Exodus 22

⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”

⁶Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

⁷and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.

¹And the Lord said to Moses,

²“If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor

⁴Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of the ox.

⁴³But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

¹⁹Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed,

⁹They storm the city; they run along the wall; they climb into houses, entering through windows like thieves.

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.

¹When I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim will be exposed, as well as the crimes of Samaria. For they practice deceit and thieves break in; bandits raid in the streets.

²If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.

¹⁴Then the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

¹This is what the Lord says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

²⁵Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.

⁷So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,

⁷If a man gives his neighbor money or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double.

¹“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

¹⁶Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.

⁹In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.

³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

⁶Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.

³But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft.

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.

¹²But if the animal was actually stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner.

¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.

⁹In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.

⁴Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.

⁵Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

¹²But if the animal was actually stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner.

³⁰Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

³¹Then Joab came to Absalom’s house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”

³³If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.

⁴If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—he must pay back double.

³⁰Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger.

³¹Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

²⁸You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

⁶then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.

⁴“Of these,” said David, “24,000 are to oversee the work of the house of the Lord, 6,000 are to be officers and judges,

⁸If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the Lord your God will choose.

⁹You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

⁹In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.

¹If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.

⁶You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.

⁷Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

⁶“Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman acts unfaithfully against the Lord by committing any sin against another, that person is guilty

⁷and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.

⁴If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—he must pay back double.

³⁵That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

³Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

⁴Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

¹²For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

⁸But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care.

⁴⁸But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.

¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?

¹⁶Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.

⁸If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property.

⁹Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.

³or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit—

¹“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.

¹“If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.

³⁹I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.

⁷If a man gives his neighbor money or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double.

⁸Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.

¹⁴“Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

¹²This is what the Lord says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having just the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.

¹²The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.

¹⁹Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.

²⁰You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess.

¹⁸Whoever kills an animal must make restitution—life for life.

³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.

²This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord’s time of release has been proclaimed.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

¹⁰For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor.

²⁸If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,

²⁹then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

³And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.

¹²Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”

²⁵Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

²⁹then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.

²⁷A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.’”

¹⁰Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,

¹¹casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.

³Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

⁶Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.

¹⁵But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

³¹You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

²³You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.

²¹‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁵If a man lies carnally with an animal, he must be put to death. And you are also to kill the animal.

¹⁶If a woman approaches any animal to mate with it, you must kill both the woman and the animal. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

²⁵Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

²If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the Lord your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God by transgressing His covenant

³and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—

²⁰But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

⁷On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand,

⁸followed the Israelite into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted,

¹If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

²and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,”

²who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.

³So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord burned against them.

³And the Lord heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.

¹⁹So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

⁹Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

³³When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.

¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁷Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

¹⁷Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.

²³Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

²to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

¹⁷You have heard, O Lord, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

¹⁸to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.

⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.

²⁸They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.

⁷Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them?

⁹Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

⁹Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

⁹May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

⁸I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.

³We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.

⁶³Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs.

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

⁷You alone are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?

²⁴Pour out Your wrath upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them.

⁵who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

³⁵Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

³⁶Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.

¹⁹Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.

²⁰You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess.

⁸He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.

⁷and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them

⁸He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

¹⁶Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

⁸They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.

⁶Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.

¹⁶He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁶Then the Lord passed in front of Moses and called out: “The Lord, the Lord God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,

¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

⁹For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

¹²For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.

²³If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.

⁶This poor man called out, and the Lord heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.

⁵“Brothers,” Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”

²⁰Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your words, and a winged creature may report your speech.

⁸Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings.

¹⁷Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.

⁸If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property.

⁹In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost item that someone claims, ‘This is mine,’ both parties shall bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges find guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can extend a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”

¹⁶You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field.

²“Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.”

²you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name,

³to the priest who is serving at that time, and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have entered the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.”

¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

¹⁹Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²³Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

²⁷“When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the Lord.

¹⁹You must set apart to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.

¹²you are to present to the Lord the firstborn male of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.

³And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised.

²“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

¹⁴“Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

⁸He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the Lord.

³¹The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.

²¹You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”