But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die.

Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

“If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’—

Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

“For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—

the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;

and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires.

Punishment of Apostates

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers,

“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying,

then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you,

But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you,

only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today.

Generosity to the Poor

“If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,

The Law Concerning Bondservants

“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you,

But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer.

“If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing His covenant,

and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel,

“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

“So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the Lord chooses,