Safeguarding Life

“Do not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that is like taking a life as security.

“If a man is discovered kidnapping(A) one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

“Be careful in a case of infectious skin disease, following carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.

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Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.(A)

If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.(B) You must purge the evil from among you.(C)

In cases of defiling skin diseases,[a] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical(D) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 24:8 The Hebrew word for defiling skin diseases, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.